Paradox
by AznTigress
Summary: A century has passed since the Meteor incident. Times on the Planet have become peaceful without the worry of dangers such as Shinra and Sephiroth. But is the battle really over? What darkness still lurks on the Planet? -DISCONTINUED-
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Tracy! Wait up!"

Aya Yurika panted tiredly as the twenty-one-year-old struggles to catch up to her older friend, who was quickly getting out of sight.

"C'mon Aya!"

Trang Ly stops to wait until the girl caught up. The two of them were exploring the forests around the former location of Mideel when Trang suddenly spotted what they were looking for and raced excitedly ahead, leaving the poor teenager behind her. Aya's short black hair fell over her face as she tries to catch her breath. The blue jean jacket she had been wearing was now tied around her waist, airing out her now sweat-drenched off-white tank top. With finger-gloved hands, Aya works to untangle the mass of foliage that had caught onto her blue loose pants and kicks off the thick slab of mud stuck under her dark brown hiking boots.

Aya couldn't figure out what it was her twenty-three-year-old friend was so excited about. She looks up to see the back of her friend, who was now staring at something far ahead. Sweat also drenched the young woman's black tank top, though it was much less noticeable on the dark shade of the shirt. However, her white hooded shirt-jacket did show some form of sweat on it, as her blue fitting jean pants also had some foliage caught onto it but not as much as Aya's pants. The mud clotting up Trang's dark brown boots did little to slow her down and she made no effort to clean off the excess earth.

"Wh… wha… what… did you see?" gasps Aya between air intake.

"It's just like what I saw in my dream…" answers Trang in awe, although the tone of her voice suggested she was talking to herself rather than answering the teenage girl.

Aya watches as the young woman began walking slowly towards a glow in the distance. Once she regains her normal breathing, she continues towards Trang and the two of them approach what seemed to be a small glowing hole. When they got to the edge of the hole, they look down to see a pool of some strange glowing greenish liquid some seven feet down from the hole's surface.

"What is that stuff?" wonders Aya.

"Lifestream," exclaims Trang as if entranced by the sight.

"Lifestream?" repeated Aya. "_This_ is Lifestream? I knew they referred to it as Lifestream at the school in Cosmo Canyon, but I always thought it was more of a symbolic term. I didn't think it would be an _actual_ stream."

Both girls watch the rippling surface of the Lifestream for a few minutes until Trang spoke up.

"Do you realize where we're standing?" she asks her friend.

"The former location of Mideel, of course," answers Aya confidently. "This was where Mideel was originally until something happened and the ground underneath Mideel collapsed. The surviving townies rebuilt the new Mideel further east, away from this area."

"The locals said that it was necessary in order for the Planet to heal itself here," adds Trang.

Aya squints at the hole and then cocks her head to one side. "Well, now that you said that, the hole _does_ sort of resemble a healing cut. Like a scab on the Planet."

"If this exists then the stories about the Northern Crater must be true as well," exclaims Trang excitedly.

"Too bad they won't let anyone near the crater," sighs Aya, crossing her arms behind her head. "After what happened a century ago, the crater's become off-limits to everyone."

"Yeah," agrees Trang disappointedly.

"I guess that's it, huh?" vociferates Aya. "We've explored the Round Island, the cave near Wutai, the ancient Nibelheim reactor, pretty much everything the older generations told us about. So with all our findings, what happened a century ago really did happen."

The teenage girl lets her arms fall to her sides and looks down at Trang, who was still staring at the pool of Lifestream.

"It's a shame we weren't there to see it all happen," asserts the young woman, still looking at the pool. "I would've liked to see it all unfold."

"Are you nuts?" retorts Aya. "WEAPONs destroying cities, Meteor threatening to destroy the Planet, all hell breaking loose… I'm _glad_ we didn't have to live through all that. I'd be scared shitless!"

"I wonder," began Trang. "Is it _really_ all over?"

"What do you mean?" asks Aya.

"I've been having these weird dreams lately," answers the young woman. "I mean, I've had them occasionally before we started this journey, but… now they've been occurring more and more frequently."

She breaks her gaze from the pool and looks up at her friend. "It's like they're telling me that the fight isn't over just yet."

"Stop talking like that," responded Aya, crossing her arms. "You're giving me the chills."

"But what if the fight really isn't over yet?" wondered Trang. "What if whatever started that titanic battle a century ago is still around? Isn't that a possibility?"

"C'mon, nothing lasts forever," argues Aya.

"Nanaki was there when it happened and he's still around," notes Trang. "What if he's not the only thing left over from the battle?"

"Okay, now you're scaring me," exclaims the teenage girl as a chill ran down her spine. The thought of such a possibility frightened her down to the bone.

"I'm sorry," apologizes Trang. "I don't want to overlook possibilities. It makes me feel better knowing something that might happen. Helps me prepare for what could be."

The two of them look down at the serene surface of the Lifestream pool and then look at each other.

"Let's go back to Mideel," suggests Aya. "This place is giving me the creeps now."

With a nod from Trang, the two girls began their trek back to the relocated town. However, before she could take a step forward, a piercing scream echoed through Trang's mind. She starts to feel dizzy as the scream got louder.

"Ah, what's that screaming?" she groaned as she clutches her head.

"What scream?" asks Aya. "I don't hear anything. Are you allright, Tracy?"

The sound got so intense that Trang put both of her hands to her temples to pressurize them in an effort to alleviate her sudden headache. "This scream… Is it… the cry of the Planet?..."

Without warning, the ground beneath her began to crumble and soon the young woman found herself falling into the pool of Lifestream beneath her. Everything happened so fast she couldn't comprehend anything. The last thing she could see and hear was the sight of Aya racing to grab her hand and the sound of her nickname echoing through the chaos.

"Tracy…!"


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_It was somewhat chilly at the train station that afternoon. Logan Trinity shifted uncomfortably in the slight chill of the air, despite wearing his insulating navy blue collared jacket along with slightly loose deep black pants, a faded grayish-white t-shirt, and a pair of heavyset black boots with silver lines decorating its surface. To battle the cool air, Logan had turned up his collar to shield the back of his warm neck and lowered his head so that his long short raven-black hair would cover as much of his exposed head as possible. However, in doing so, his steel-rimmed glasses slips down the bridge of his nose, forcing him to remove his right fingerless-gloved hand from the warm shelter of his pants' pocket and push his glasses back up to its former position._

_Logan looks up to see the back of his best friend, who was staring at the train tracks before them. Clad in a pair of equally loose blue jean pants, a white, short-sleeved hooded shirt-jacket over a black tank top, and dark brown hiking boots, Logan was amazed at how the girl could stand in such an uncomfortable climate wearing what she wore. Shivering a bit, he watches as the girl turns to look at him, her long black brown hair flowing about her like threads of silk. She walks up to him and crosses her fingerless-gauntleted arms to raise an eyebrow at how pitiful her friend looked, a friendly smile already painted across her face._

"_You didn't have to see me off, you know?" she tells him in her usual laidback kind of attitude._

"_Now what kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" retorts Logan with a smirk._

"_You're not doing this for me," asserts the girl. "You're doing it for you."_

"_What do you mean by that?" wonders Logan, though in the back of his mind, he had a feeling he knew why she said that._

_The girl lowers her eyes and lets her long bangs fall over her face. "You still feel guilty about it, don't you?"_

_Logan was struck speechless. The airy chill he felt earlier suddenly became replaced with something even colder._

"_For the last time, Logan, I've already forgiven you for that," assures the girl. She lifts her head to show her smile. "It's been what? Four years since it happened? Can't we finally let bygones be bygones?"_

_Her words did nothing to relieve him of his emotional guilt. He lowers his head and looks down at the ground to avoid her gaze._

"_C'mon now," exclaims the girl. She lays a hand on his shoulder, causing his cyan blue eyes to meet her red orange ones "We're both nineteen years old now. This is the prime of our lives; we can't let something as small as **that** get in the way, now can we?"_

"_I guess not," replies Logan._

"_At least we're still good friends despite that, right?" the girl adds with a grin. "That's what matters more."_

"_Yeah," agrees the boy…_

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Tracy…"

Logan awoke to the light of the morning sun beaming through his Kalm apartment window. Groaning with slit-opened eyes, the young man of twenty-three years of age struggles mentally to force himself out of the soft comfort of his bed and onto his feet. He gave a tired yawn as he walks through the apartment wearing his usual bedclothes which only consisted of a pair of dark green sleeping pants. He stops by a bare tree plant lined with scattered leaves and situated in a large pot to see an almost four-foot green lizard lazing upon one of its thicker branches with an eye open.

"_Ohayou_, Nova," he greets the reptilian.

The lizard turns its head towards Logan as if to greet him back and returns to rest its head on the branch. Nova was originally Logan's friend Trang's pet before she left him in the young man's care four years ago. Now at the ripe age of one hundred thirty-two, Nova spends his time just lumping about Logan's apartment with the occasional visit to the outside world in the fields around Kalm.

Smiling meekly, Logan continues his way towards his bathroom to brush his teeth along with other daily morning rituals. Dressing in his usual black pants, black boots, and white t-shirt, he slips on his trademark black fingerless gloves and begins his morning workouts after stretching a bit. This morning ritual of Logan's was one that always finds a way to amuse Nova, for his species doesn't require such a practice to stay fit; they just need to eat particular foods and exercise once in a while to do so.

Grabbing an apple from his fridge, the young man blows a strand of his black hair out of his face before heading out the door towards his Fenrir motorcycle. The model he has isn't even produced anymore; it could pretty much be considered an antique, considering it was made more than a hundred years ago. Legend says that it originally belonged to some strong warrior who helped save the Planet from impending doom long ago. However, Logan thought nothing of it other than it seemed to call to him from the midst of metal in the Midgar junkyard he came across a few years ago. He managed to fix it up very well, making it run as if it was new again. The sword racks built into its side were also renewed, except all they now held were Logan's swords Heaven's Cloud and Ragnarok, along with a couple of guns for good measure. Logan rarely had to use the weapons though since he carries around a mastered Enemy Away Materia with him while on the job. However, that's not to say he hasn't forgotten it once or twice and ended up battling a slew of monsters as a result.

Making sure he had everything, the young man slips on his goggles and heads for New Midgar, a city built on top of the same spot of the original Midgar. Logan had heard stories of how the old Midgar was built with two layers and that the middle class and the rich lived on the top layer known as the Plates while the poor lived in the slums underneath. It was hard to imagine such a life, for the Midgar Logan knew did not have such a structure; New Midgar was an expansion of Edge and didn't possess the two-layered structure that the older generations spoke of. However, it was still divided into sections with the new eighth section being used to hold the remains of the old Midgar. In addition to that, since Mako energy was no longer used, natural life sprung all around New Midgar. What was once a barren landscape was now lush with fields of green and dotted with flowery plants.

Parking the Fenrir near the world-famous Seventh Heaven bar, Logan slides off his bike and secures it so that no one can operate it besides him. He ties his jacket around his waist and enters the bar where he was greeted by a red-furred creature decorated with golden bangles andfour feathers upon its neck.

"Cloud?" asks the mammalian hopefully.

"_Konnichiwa_, Nanaki," greets Logan with a smile. "Sorry if I've disappointed you."

"No, I should be the one apologizing," replies Nanaki. "It's just… Every time I hear the sound of that bike approaching, I keep thinking of…"

"Cloud Strife," the young man finishes. "The more you talk about that guy, the more I want to meet him. But he's…"

The red-furred mammalian lowers his head, knowing very well the reality of life and that all things must come to an end. About a hundred years ago, he helped a group of eight people save the Planet from impending doom from the hands of a psychopath who summoned the most terrible summon of all: Meteor. Even with the man's defeat, Nanaki knew that he would end up alone for his species' lifespan outlived that of humans and so, one by one, he sadly witnessed the age-induced death of each member of the group. With each death, Nanaki's heart broke further and further; it was too much for him to see every one of his close and dear friends pass on and leave him behind in the world of the living. Now at the age of a hundred forty, Nanaki had managed to make new friends, but his heart still remembers the ones he fought to save the Planet with.

Logan senses the creature's sadness and kneels down to place an assuring hand on the mammalian's shoulder.

"Hey, I know how it feels to miss someone," he assures him. "You wish things would never end but you know that it will eventually. It's just something we can't change. We just gotta learn to accept it and adapt to move on."

"I know, Logan," responds Nanaki. "It's just… very hard for me to do so. They were the best friends I've ever had… and we've been through so much…"

"Some things you just never forget," asserts Logan, standing up. "That's the reality of it."

The two of them stood there silent in thought, until the creature suddenly remembers something and spoke up.

"You'd better hurry; Roxy doesn't like latecomers," warns Nanaki.

With an uneasy smile, Logan makes his way through the bar towards a door which leads to the headquarters of Strife Delivery Service. Opening the door, the young man sees a strapping young woman around his age ordering the delivery people around. Her long dark brown hair was tied back in a secured braid that ran down past her waist. Thick bangs of brown hung down at the sides of her face and flew about with each turn of her head. She had on a black tank top and khaki shorts along with threatening-looking gloves, making her look like a hiker whom you wouldn't want to mess with.

"What is this package doing here!" the young woman yells out angrily. "And where's that list I asked for! My grandmother would be _ashamed_ to see all of this chaos!"

The headquarters used to be a simple office on the second floor of the original Seventh Heaven bar. However, an additional room was built on the bottom floor adjacent to the main bar in order to accommodate the growing orders of deliveries as well as more deliverers. The room was as big as the main bar with a computer for recording the deliverers' working hours and lockers for the deliverers' belongings so that they wouldn't get in the way of delivery items. Both lined the walls of the room, leaving a big space in the middle for couches and tables for off-duty deliverers to relax before their shift.

Roxy came to inherit Seventh Heaven along with Strife Delivery Service after a friend of her grandmother had passed on. It was told to her that original owner started both the bar and the service about a hundred years ago and that it was now her familial duty to carry them both on into the new generation.

As Logan enters the room, he was greeted by a cool and calm Lacus Strider leaning on the wall with his fingers interlocked behind his head. His sleeveless green shirt and blue past-the-knee shorts with brown boots gave him the look of a surfer, an appropriate outfit for him since he hailed from the coastal town of Costa del Sol.

"Roxy's looking happy as usual," jokes Lacus with a grin.

"Yeah," agrees Logan, smiling.

"So," began Lacus. "Have you heard anything from Tracy lately?"

"No," replies Logan, looking down at the ground.

"How long has it been since she and Aya left?" wonders the surfer boy.

"About four years, I guess," replies Logan. "Tracy started sending me letters at least once a week when she left. Then it became once every other week, once a month, and then once every few months. The last letter I got from her said that she'd come across the trail of something amazing and won't have time to write for a while. That was a year ago."

"Yeah, same here," responds Lacus, scratching his bluish-grey haired head. "However, Aya's not the letter-writing type so it was expected that she wouldn't write much to me. And the PHS only works so far a distance…"

Suddenly, a young man wearing a blue fitting sleeveless shirt, slightly loose brown pants, and black shoes appears through the door. His navy-blue spiked hair ruffled about as he approaches Roxy cautiously with a folder of receipts in black gloved hands.

"Here's all the deliveries I made," he tells her as he hands her the folder.

"Excellent," exclaims Roxy. "You can punch out now, Zenith."

With a nod, the young man goes to log in his times on the computer and joins Logan and Lacus standing near a wall.

"Well, well, if it isn't the great Zenith," vociferates Lacus smugly.

"Hi guys," greeted the young man.

Zenith came from the town of Gongaga on the Eastern Continent. His parents were killed by monsters out near the Ancient Forest when he was barely two years old and so his last name is unknown. Nonetheless, that didn't stop him from becoming a confident and occasionally arrogant young man who wishes for something better to do than deliver things from place to place.

"So Zenith," began Lacus. "You still want to be a member of SOLDIER?"

"If that unit was still around, you bet," answers Zenith confidently. "I still wish I was there a century ago when Shinra was still around. I would've been one of the best SOLDIERs ever."

"Too bad Shinra fell when its military ambitions got the best of it," spoke up Logan. "But even if Shinra was still around, there wouldn't be any need for such a powerful military unit as SOLDIER. Just look at this Planet. Ever since the Meteor incident, things have gotten really peaceful. All the WEAPONs were destroyed by that group of heroes and so nothing's left to be a real threat."

"In other words," adds Lacus. "This Planet has become a real bore."

"But," began Zenith. "What about Holy?"

"Not this again," vociferates Lacus, feeling irritated by the topic.

"But isn't it true what Nanaki told us about that summon?" continues Zenith. "That the purpose of Holy was to eliminate all threats to the Planet. That people like Nanaki's tribe elder Bugenhagen had a feeling that people are a threat to the Planet and that Holy will eventually wipe us out too."

"If that's the case, then we wouldn't still be here, now would we?" argues Logan. "Why would such a powerful summon let us live if we were such a threat?"

"Maybe something else is holding it back or perhaps it's waiting for the right time," suggests Zenith. "Or maybe Holy isn't what we should be worried about but something else."

"C'mon, we've been through this so many times, I'm getting a headache," complained Lacus. "All Holy did was stop Meteor with the help of the Lifestream. That's it. That's what they told us at the school in Cosmo Canyon. There's no if, ands, or buts about it. Why do you have to go on about the vague details?"

"I… It's just… It doesn't feel resolved somehow," stutters Zenith, trying to convey his feelings to his friends. "Like something is amiss but we don't know it's amiss."

"I guess we'll never know," replied Logan with a shrug. "Anyways, my shift is almost starting so I'll see you guys later."

With a nod of acknowledgement from Lacus and Zenith, Logan goes off to log in his time and take the list printout to begin his deliveries for the day.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Logan gave a sigh of relief upon making the last of his deliveries. Once again he had forgotten his Enemy Away Materia and ended up contending with Zemzeletts, Bandits, Mus, Kalm Fangs, and the likes on his deliveries. It wasn't that destroying them was a problem; it was the tediousness of it after encountering them so frequently that bothered him. Fortunately, with the last of his deliveries done, Logan was glad to finally head home to Kalm for a well-deserved rest. However, before he does that, he has to make one final trip back to New Midgar in order to punch out and confirm his deliveries with Roxy.

It was dusk when Logan returned to the Seventh Heaven bar. Lacus and Zenith had already gone home to their apartments in Midgar as with many of the deliverers. Usually Nanaki would go back to Cosmo Canyon after spending a day at the bar but tonight he had decided to stay to greet Logan upon his return.

"Evening, Logan," spoke up the red-furred creature.

"Hey Nanaki," the young man greets back. "What are you still doing here?"

"I… sort of overheard that conversation you, Lacus, and Zenith had about Holy," admits Nanaki.

"Oh," exclaims Logan abashed. He and his friends were always careful not to talk about the past around the creature because they didn't want to accidentally dredge up any painful memories in the kind animal.

"What are your thoughts on the matter?" wonders Nanaki.

"I don't know," replies Logan. "I've never really known what it's like to be in danger like that so I wouldn't know. When I heard about Holy at the school in Cosmo Canyon, it didn't really strike anything in me. I guess since it happened so long ago, it just feels so far away and unaffecting to me."

"I see," acknowledged Nanaki, lowering his head.

"I'm sorry if it brought up any bad memories," apologizes Logan.

"No, it's no problem at all," assures Nanaki. He lifts his head to look up at the young man. "I just… I just want you to be careful. That's all."

"Careful?" exclaims Logan in surprise. "Why would you say that?"

"I'm sorry, it's nothing," responds Nanaki, trying to take back what he had said.

"What is it?" asks Logan, hoping to dig out some sort of explanation for the odd advice.

Nanaki gave a sigh and looks deep in the young man's cyan blue eyes. "Promise me you won't tell anyone."

"Promise," agreed Logan, holding up his right hand in sincerity.

"Allright then," replies Nanaki. "It's just… lately I've been getting a weird feeling about something."

"A weird feeling?" repeated Logan, arching his eyebrow. "About what?"

"Something about the Meteor incident a century ago bothered me when you guys were talking about Holy."

"Really?"

"Yes," affirms Nanaki sternly. "About two years after that incident, people all over the Planet came down with a mysterious disease known as Geostigma."

"Yeah, the Star-Scar Syndrome," confirms Logan. "I learned about that in school. It was the result of the human body trying to reject the Jenova cells in them. What about it?"

"It made me wonder," answers Nanaki. "Is Jenova really gone for good?"

"I don't know," replies Logan. "I mean, what people said about Jenova is really vague and mainly based on old research documents. However, it was agreed that Jenova was some sort of extraterrestrial alien."

"Yes, that much is true," affirms Nanaki. "But what we do know about it is mainly based around Sephiroth's actions."

"Sephiroth," repeated Logan. "They said that he took Jenova's head and died in a Mako reactor. He thought Jenova was his mother but that was later proven false. He was pretty crazy, wasn't he?"

"Crazy doesn't even cut it to describe his mentality," asserts Nanaki. "But why Jenova's head, is what I'm wondering. He could've taken the entire entity with him seeing that he had insurmountable strength. But all he took was the head, a mere piece of the whole creature."

"Maybe it's symbolic," suggests Logan. "The head controls the body, hence Jenova's head would be able to control its many incarnations of its body."

"No, there's something more," asserts Nanaki. "My friends and I destroyed Jenova's body so all that was left was its head, which was with Sephiroth. But later, the secret agents of Shinra known as the Turks discovered Jenova's head at the Northern Crater. At that time, three young men were seeking that same head in order for one of them to transform into Sephiroth."

"So what you're saying is," began Logan. "As long as Jenova's head is still around, there's a chance that Sephiroth could return and summon Meteor again."

"Yes, that's what's been plaguing my mind," concludes Nanaki.

"But didn't you said that your friend Cloud saw one of those men use Jenova's head to transform into Sephiroth?" affirms Logan. "If that's the case, then Jenova's head is gone completely."

"Yes, that's what he saw," agreed Nanaki. "But what we didn't know was that the container that the Turks used to hold Jenova's head was divided into cells."

"Cells?" repeated Logan.

"Just think of three containers merged into one with the walls still intact," said Nanaki. "The Turks did that so that should the three men find it, they could leak out one of the cells to throw them off into thinking that Jenova was gone before their eyes."

"But that would leave the remaining cells still full of Jenova, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would. But during the battle between my friend Cloud and one of those men, the second cell leaked out and the young man was able to use it to transform himself into Sephiroth."

"So that would mean…"

"Yes," declared Nanaki. "The container could potentially possess another cell that still has Jenova inside."

"Are you saying that the container could still be around even after all these years?" asks Logan.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," asserts Nanaki. "And I bet my bangles that the container could be among the debris of old Midgar in Sector 8."

"But there's tons of debris there," argues Logan. "It'd be like finding a needle in a haystack. There's no way anyone can find it out of pure luck."

"I know that," affirms Nanaki. "But I would feel better if I had my paws on that container and prove my thoughts wrong."

"Perhaps the two of us can go look for it over the weekend when I'll be off-duty," suggest Logan.

"I would like that," agreed Nanaki. "Thanks Logan."

"No problem, Nanaki," responds the young man.

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Returning home later that evening, Logan slumps down on his bed, unwilling to go make dinner. Nova crawls through the apartment window and lands down on the bed which was located right next to the window; he had decided to go out for the day and hunt for breakfast on his own. The small reptilian gave the young man a nudge with its snout to motivate him to make dinner for the both of them. When the young man didn't stir, Nova leaps off the bed onto the floor and began transforming into his bipedal, humanoid form; his true form.

Now armed with opposable thumbs, Nova began flicking his claws at Logan to force him up.

"I'm too tired, Nova," complains Logan, waving his arm about to shoo the reptilian away.

But Nova wasn't going to give up that easily; he was hungry. Sliding his claws under the mattress, he effortlessly lifts it up along with Logan on top and dumps the young man onto the floor.

"Allright, allright!" Logan submits to the reptilian's wishes. Disheveled, he adjusts his jumbled but intact glasses and brushes his black bangs out of his face as he got up. He glares up at the reptilian, clad in gold bangles on its wrists and ankles and four feathers upon its neck. "Sometimes, I wish you could talk like Nanaki instead of having to use body language to communicate with me."

Nova creases his eyes, irked at the sound of that statement. His tribe is a rival tribe of Nanaki's and consists mainly of four-legged lizards that can transform into bipedal humanoids, with some human tribesmen. However, that all changed when Nova's fellow reptilians were betrayed by their human tribesmen during the Gi tribe attack on Cosmo Canyon. The tribe elder had everyone take an oath to never again speak any human language, forever shunning the human race.

Then one day, Nova became injured and trapped while exploring the Ancient Forest, the home of his tribe. It was then when he first met the bold adventurer Trang who freed and nursed him back to health. Her kindness brought him to befriend her, and at the same time outrage among his tribe. He was exiled from the tribe and ended up living with Trang since then. He had met and earned the friendship of her friends, but this was the first time he lived with anyone other than Trang. That was four years ago when she entrusted his care to her best friend Logan.

Nova and Logan got along great, though there were some times when they would conflict like long-time roommates. This was one of those times.

As Logan goes into the kitchen to make dinner, Nova returns the mattress to the bed and sat upon it to gaze out the window. It was a beautiful night tonight; the stars lit up the night in a spectacle like no other. Looking up at the stars, Nova recalls the day Meteor appeared in the sky. He was forty years old at the time and still a member of his tribe when it happened. He remembered feeling a sense of weakness at the sight of such a terrible monstrosity, hopeless that he could do nothing to stop it. Then when Nova heard that Nanaki of his rival tribe helped to stop Meteor from destroying the Planet, it gave him hope that even he too can have the power to help protect the Planet, a duty that's been passed down through many generations of his reptilian tribesmen.

Thinking about his tribe, Nova became filled with sadness knowing that he could never again see his friends and family as an exile. At that time, Logan came out of the kitchen to tell the reptilian that dinner was ready. Taking in a deep breath, Nova forces himself to forget about the past and think about the future. And that future included dinner.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Logan awoke to the sound of a fist pounding on his wooden apartment door. Feeling somewhat groggy, he turns over on his bed to glance at the digital clock on his nightstand through nearsighted eyes.

"3:27 in the freakin' mornin'," he groans. "Who the hell is up at three in the freakin' morning?"

The fatigued young man felt around his nightstand with his hand for his glasses and puts them on. With as much effort as he could summon in his sleepy state, he rises out of bed and stumbles towards the pounding door, the sound of which was starting to give him a headache.

He undoes the locks and opens to door to be greeted by the exhausted form of Aya.

"Aya?" Logan exclaims in surprise. "What are you doing here at this time of… day? And where's Tracy?"

"Logan," panted Aya. "I… I… Tracy… Something happened on our journey…"

The words "something happened" along with the sound of his best friend's nickname shook Logan fully awake with concern.

"Where's Tracy?" he demanded seriously.

"I tried to save her, but it was too late," Aya blurts out with emotional pain. She looks up at him with crimson eyes that threatened to rain down tears. "She fell into the Lifestream."

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That afternoon, Lacus, Zenith, Aya, Roxy, Logan, and Nanaki as well as Nova all met at the Seventh Heaven bar. Logan had been worried sick ever since Aya broke the news to him about Trang and nothing anyone could say was able to alleviate his anxieties.

"Don't worry Logan," coaxed Nanaki. "I'm sure Tracy is allright. She's a tough girl when she needs to be."

"Nanaki, didn't you said that someone survived after falling into the Lifestream?" spoke up Zenith, who was busy embracing his troubled girlfriend, Aya.

"Yes, actually, _two_ people survived the mental side effects of the Lifestream and I know both of them," declared the red-furred creature. He strolls up to Logan and looks deep into the young man's eyes. "Those two people were one of my closest friends so I know how you feel, Logan. If my friends were able to survive after falling into the Lifestream, there is no doubt in my mind that Tracy can survive it too."

"I hope so, Nanaki," responded Logan.

"Have a little faith, Logan, and everything will be all right," encouraged Nanaki with an assuring smile.

"So where can we find Tracy?" wonders Lacus.

"The Lifestream leaks onto the surface through various places around the Planet," explained Nanaki. "Since she fell into the one in Mideel, our only option is to find other openings on other parts of the Planet."

"I'm sure _that_ will be easy," retorts Roxy sarcastically. "The only Lifestream springs that we know of are the Mideel and the Northern Crater openings. Who knows what others exist."

"I remember there was one near my hometown, at Wutai," spoke up Aya, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Hmm, I've been to Wutai and I don't recall having seen one there," notes Nanaki. "Then again, it's been a while since I've gone there to visit."

"All right then, Wutai it is," declares Roxy. "Everyone to the Huge Bronco!"

"But what about the bar and the delivery service?" asks Aya.

"Don't worry, I'll stay behind and take care of things," assures Lacus. "I'm too lazy and laidback for this sort of endeavor. Besides, I'm not really that close to Tracy anyhow."

"A friend's a friend, no matter how close or far they are," argues Roxy upsettingly.

"Whatever," exclaims Lacus with a shrug. He turns to head to the Strife Delivery Service's headquarters. "I'll see you guys later."

With that sorted out, Nanaki, Logan, Zenith, Roxy, Nova, and Aya all head out to the dark red-colored Huge Bronco, a gargantuan fusion of the old Highwind and Tiny Bronco. Inside, Nanaki was overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia. The internal structure of the airship was similar to that of the Highwind, except for the addition of two more Chocobo stables, a dining hall, and sleeping quarters. The Operation Room and the control bridge were still in its old location so navigating around the place wasn't too unfamiliar for Nanaki. For Nova, however, this was his very first time in an airship; in fact, it was his first time in a manmade vehicle period and it made the reptilian quite nervous.

Logan sensed the creature's anxiety and lays a hand on its muscular shoulder. "Don't worry, Nova. Just think of yourself as a flying bird."

Somewhat eased by the young man's words, Nova gave a nod of acknowledgement and decides to join the others on the bridge. He sees Nanaki pass him by and give an unfriendly glare at the humanoid. Irked by the hostile look, Nova continues on his way and stands next to Logan near the door on the bridge.

Up on the bridge, the group was greeted by a short-haired blonde-headed young man name Sigurd. Around the age of thirty or so, Sigurd has a charismatic personality and simply loves machinery; he was the one who helped Logan fix up the Fenrir bike he found as well as designed and helped built the Huge Bronco, named so after his grandfather's personal airplane, the Tiny Bronco. His favorite pastime is rummaging through Sector 8 to find old technologies to fix up anew. Among them was a robotic crown-wearing bipedal cat that still had its artificial intelligence intact and called itself Cait Sith. Renewed through Sigurd's efforts, Cait Sith now helps the young man manage the work crew of the Huge Bronco.

Wearing a dark grey t-shirt and dark green pants tucked into brown boots, Sigurd was busy showing the work crew how to manage the ship's numerous computer controls. The goggles he always wore is a family heirloom that he had discovered while exploring the attic of his Rocket Town home on the Western Continent, supposedly belonging to his deceased grandfather. In remembrance of the old man, Sigurd always stuck a pack of cigarettes under the strap of his goggles even though he doesn't smoke.

"How are things going Sig?" asks Roxy, giving the man a friendly punch on the shoulder.

"Oy! Roxy," exclaims the mechanic, rubbing his shoulder with a gloved hand. "Careful, I need my arm in order to pilot."

"Very funny, Sig," chuckles the female streetfighter.

Cait Sith gives Nanaki a friendly wave before returning to his job of checking the integrity of the computers.

The airship's control bridge was just like the one Nanaki remembered on the Highwind, except for the lack of the indentation in the floor that led down to another section of the computer stations where he always hung out with Vincent.

_Vincent_, thought Nanaki. _What **did** happen to that man?_

The red-furred creature sat deep in thought. He remembers that the man was an experiment of Hojo just like he was. But what made him different from Hojo's other experiments was that he had loss the ability to age, an attribute that would surely have made him immortal. Realizing this, Nanaki's eyes perked up with hope.

_He was there at everyone's funerals!_ thought the red-furred creature in shock. _I remember now! Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Cid, and Yuffie; he was there for everyone when they died and he didn't change a bit in appearance. That would mean… I'm not alone. I'm not alone!_

A smile plastered across Nanaki's muzzle as the heavy feeling in his heart lifted. Yes, he would go and investigate the waterfall in the North Corel Area on the Western Continent to see if his transformative friend is still alive. But right now first things first; they needed to see if Tracy had survived the fall into the Lifestream.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Floating through the Lifestream, Trang's unconscious body sank lower and lower into its knowledge-drenched depths. She opens her eyes weakly and finds herself able to breath through the greenish water-like liquid.

_Why am I able to breath?_ she wonders. The headache she had had gotten worse and so she closes her eyes in pain.

"She looks like she's hurting."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"You can try, but I doubt anything can help her while in this state."

"Stop being so pessimistic, Zack!"

"I'm not being pessimistic, Aerith. I'm being real."

The sound of a male and female voice arguing coaxes Trang awake. The young woman found herself floating in an empty white place where none could tell which way was up or down. She closes her eyes to feel a bangle-wearing hand lay upon her forehead. The warmth coming from the hand encourages her to open her eyes again and awaken fully. She looks up to find a gentle female face framed by soft brown bangs looking down at her with emerald eyes.

"Look, she woke up!" exclaims the unknown young woman.

"I think you scared her, Aerith."

Trang turns to the source of the second voice and finds that it belonged to a strapping young man clad in a strange blue uniform with brown belts and gloved hands. His deep bluish black hair was spiked and a single bang fell over his face. He was crossing his arms and had a smile that inferred friendly intentions.

"Oh, stop it Zack," retorts the young woman called Aerith. "You know what she looks like? Kind of reminds me of Tifa."

"Did someone call me?"

Out of thin air, Trang sees a young woman with dark black hair emerge from the white emptiness of the space she is floating in.

"Hey Tifa," greeted the young man called Zack. "Long time no see."

"Hi Zack," the young woman called Tifa greets back. "Have either of you guys seen Cloud?"

"Knowing him, he's probably sulking around somewhere," retorts Zack jokingly.

"Zack!" chastises Aerith angrily.

"I'm just kidding," assures Zack with a grin. "What, so Tifa gets to call him messed up in the head but I can't poke fun at him once in a while?"

"I can hear you guys, you know."

A spiked blonde-haired young man emerges next to Tifa with a sullen look on his face.

"There you are," exclaims Tifa playfully.

Soon, more unfamiliar faces appear: a young ninja-like girl whose face reminded Trang of her friend Aya; a blonde-haired man who looks oddly similar to Sigurd; and a burlesque dark-skinned man with a gun for an arm with a look on his face that could strike fear in anyone.

"It's a reunion of friends!" squeals Aerith happily.

"Ugh, don't remind me of reunions," groans Cloud unhappily, still remembering the one he was unfortunate enough to be a part of.

"What I wouldn't give for another smoke," vociferates Cid gloomily.

"You'd probably stink up the joint with your smoking, old man," retorts Yuffie cheerfully.

Barret said not a word to add to the conversations. He had left Marlene all alone in the plane of the living, a fact that Dyne was most upset about but accepted seeing that it was something that it cannot be helped.

"Um, sorry to break up the festivities, but I think we're forgetting someone," Zack speaks up, indicating the confused Trang.

"Oh, right," exclaims Aerith embarrassingly.

"Who are you people?" asks Trang. "And where am I?"

Everyone introduces themselves accordingly before Aerith finally explains the situation to the young woman.

"This is a plane of the Lifestream where minds convene after death," she tells Trang. "It gets noisy as you can see, but you get used to it after a while."

"Am I… dead?" asks Trang nervously.

"No, you're not; don't worry," assures Tifa. "You're just floating around in the Lifestream, that's all. It's kind of hard for people to actually die in the Lifestream. What makes it dangerous is what it could do to your mind."

"My mind?" repeated Trang.

"Yeah," affirms Tifa. "The Lifestream is filled with knowledge from every soul that had died. If you remain too long in it, your mind starts absorbing all of the information."

"In other words," added Cloud, remembering his experiences. "Excessive knowledge can poison your mind and drive you crazy and comatose."

"Then, how do I get out of here?" asks Trang worriedly.

"The Lifestream works like a real stream," explains Aerith. "The hole that you fell into is far away from where you are now so it's impossible to escape the Lifestream using that. The only thing you can hope for now is that the Lifestream will push you back out onto the surface through another hole."

"So what happens if that never happens?" wonders Trang.

There was a round of silence before the girl called Yuffie finally spoke up. "You don't wanna know."

Sensing the girl's anxiety, Aerith began kneeling down and praying to the Planet for an answer.

_Planet, I need your help to get this girl out of the Lifestream._

_**You have the power to lead her out of danger.**_

_How do I do that?_

**_I shall return you to the surface. You may take one other soul to help you on your journey._**

Feeling unsure, Aerith stands back up and looks around at her friends before her. _Who am I going to take?_

Her heart wanted desperately to take Cloud, but she knew it wouldn't be right since he had already lived his life to the fullest. The same with Barret, Tifa, Cid, and Yuffie. That only left one person whose life was also taken before time did.

The young woman faces the others with a meek smile. "The Planet has given me permission to temporarily return to the living so I can help this girl escape the Lifestream. In addition, it has also given me the choice of choosing one person to accompany me."

Everyone acknowledged her decision without her even saying it. Cloud, as well as everyone, was disheartened not to be able to return to the plane of the living with Aerith so that they would be able to do all the things they had wanted to do with her. But, he was happy to see that his two dear friends would be able to have a second chance at life after fate had ended theirs so early.

With a nod from Zack, Aerith and him disappear from sight along with Trang.

_**Be careful, young one. An old evil still exists in the world.**_


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Nova was utterly grateful to feel the Huge Bronco land on the Wutai island. Almost as soon as the door to the outside was opened up, the nervous reptilian dashes past the group and plops down on the soft grassy ground. He watches as the others exit the airship and breathe in the fresh cool air. Among them, Nanaki gave him yet another glare which was the last straw for the reptilian.

"You know what? If you have something to say to me, then just say it!" Nova suddenly bursts out angrily. "Just because we're members of rival tribes, that doesn't give you any reason to give me such cold shoulders!"

Everyone, minus Nanaki, gave an astonished stare at the bipedal lizard. Never before had the reptilian ever spoken in their presence so this was definitely a first for them.

"What the hell?" Logan was the first to speak. "You could talk all this time! Why didn't you!"

"It's because his tribe despises humans," Nanaki spitefully answers for the lizard.

"Th-that's not true!" stutters Nova.

"After their human tribesmen betrayed them during the Gi tribe attack on Cosmo Canyon, his species declared all humans untrustworthy and forbade human language from being spoken ever again," Nanaki continues on. "Even mere friendship with a human was considered shunned."

"Is that true?" wonders Roxy, turning to look at the bipedal lizard.

Nova gave a reluctant sigh as he hangs his head. "Yes. It's hard for me to admit it, but it's all true. I used to think all humans were bad after people of Shinra tried to kidnap some members of my tribe years ago. But all that changed when I met Tracy and befriended her. I tried to change my tribe's mind to accept humans, but they got upset at me for being friends with a human and exiled me from my home in the Ancient Forest. I never told anyone except Tracy and kept quiet from the rest of you as my personal punishment for betraying my tribe."

"So in other words, you still don't trust humans," retorts Nanaki with a frown.

"I won't lie about that," admits Nova. "Yes, I still don't trust humans entirely, but I do trust Tracy and still do."

"And now you know why I give members of your species the cold shoulder," asserts the red-furred creature. "You judge a race from the actions of a few and refuse to believe otherwise. What a stubborn tribe."

"I refuse to sit around and listen to you insult my species like this," declared Nova, clutching his claws into fists. "If you don't want me around, then just say so."

With that, the troubled reptilian transforms back into his small iguana form and runs off.

"Wait, Nova!" Roxy calls after him. She was about to go after the lizard but Nanaki stops her with a lift of his paw.

"Leave him," he tells her. "He just needs time to sort out his problems. Besides, we've got more important things to do."

With that said, the group move on to their main objective.

"So, where's this Lifestream spring you were talking about, Aya?" asks Logan.

"It's in the Da Chao monument," answers the teenage girl. "In the cave that used to burn fiercely with divine fire."

The group looks up in awe at the monument upon reaching the base of it. What used to be pathways for hikers to explore the monument became channels for the Lifestream to flow out from the cave and into the pool of Lifestream below. It had a most peaceful ethereal glow to the sight of the knowledge-filled liquid flowing down the carved statues of the monument.

"This is amazing," gasps Nanaki. "How long has the monument been like this?"

"My parents told me that it happened about a year after our leader passed on," answered Aya. "They told me it was caused by her spirit as a memento to remember her by."

"Yuffie…" Nanaki utters sadly, remembering how the rambunctious girl used to be a Materia thief and then dramatically changed her ways when she was made leader of Wutai.

"Do you think the hole inside the cave is big enough for a person to flow out of there?" wonders Sigurd as he scratches his goggle-wearing head.

"Doesn't look like it," notes Cait Sith, perched upon Sigurd's other shoulder.

"Well, we won't know unless we check it out," declared Zenith, crossing his fingers behind his head. "Hey Aya! Is it possible for us to go into that cave?"

"I don't know," replied the teenage girl. "No one has ever attempted to since nobody wants to do anything that would desecrate the monument. Some of the more adventurous-type people wanted to, but were afraid that the Lifestream would cause them to slip and fall to their deaths."

"Nova's claws could probably get him up there pretty easily," uttered Logan.

"Well, he's not here so we're going to have to go with another plan," asserts Nanaki firmly.

"Maybe if we get some food in us first, we'll probably think of something," suggests Zenith with a grin.

"I agree," adds Aya. "It's been a long way to get here and none of us has eaten anything the whole day."

Growls from the stomachs of the others confirm their need for nourishment. With unanimous nods, the group heads for the Turtle's Paradise restaurant. Upon entering the establishment, they noticed the restaurant was particularly empty except for a full table and a single young man in a black trench coat sitting alone at another. A waiter comes up to them and seats them down at an available table to take their orders. As the group waited for their food, Nanaki notices something peculiar about the young man wearing sunglasses and sitting alone at the next table. The sight of his white hair and long black trench coat reminded him of a certain someone he was forced to fight to save the planet about a century ago.

Just thinking about that enemy gave the red-furred creature the shivers. Shaking the image of the man out of his mind, Nanaki focuses his attention on the incoming food being served before him and his friends.

-----------------------------------------------------------

After a nice lunch, the group headed out to the base of the Da Chao monument to think of some way to get up to that cave. However, even after having a nice meal and an hour of thinking, no one was able to come up with any plan of action.

"Maybe we should go look for Nova after all," Roxy thinks out loud.

Nanaki gave an exasperated sigh at the sound of that. "I hate to admit it, but I guess he's the only one who can scale this mountain easily."

"But where can we start looking?" wonders Zenith. "This island's big, too big for all of us to find him even if we do split up."

"Is there anyplace here where we could possibly find him?" Aya asks Nanaki. "You know him better than any of us."

"Actually, the one who would know him much better would be Tracy," affirms Nanaki. "I only know of his species; I don't really know him personally."

"That helps," retorts Sigurd, crossing his arms.

Nanaki glances at the blonde-haired young man with a smirk. He was indeed the grandchild of Cid for sure; there could be no one else who Sigurd could've inherited his rudeness from.

Just then, the young man in the black trench coat whom Nanaki spotted at the restaurant came along. What struck Nanaki the most was not just his similar appearance to an old enemy, but the sight of a very, extremely familiar weapon the young man had equipped on his waist: a gleaming katana with a long blade.

"Is there something the matter?" asks the young man.

Nanaki was surprised at the person's unexpected outburst.

"I noticed you were looking at me in the restaurant," explained the young man. He turns to look at the creature with eyes concealed in sunglasses. "Do I remind of you of someone?"

"I apologize for staring so rudely," responds Nanaki.

"Don't worry about it; people do it all the time," assures the young man.

The young man's appearance was unlike anything Logan had seen before. The top half of his white hair was cut short, but the bottom half had been allowed to grow out to a length that went down past the young man's waist. To keep the bottom half of his hair orderly, the young man had about four inches of it from the back of his head wrapped in a black ribbon and left the rest of his long hair free to flow wherever. Clothing-wise, the young man wore black pants with matching black boots with a silver zipper on the insteps. His unbuttoned trench coat revealed that he was wearing some sort of light grey shirt underneath. Sunlight glinted off the silvery frame of his sunglasses, which did well to hide whatever colored eyes he had.

"What business do you have here?" wonders Nanaki.

"I believe it's more proper to introduce yourself before delving into another person's mind," responded the young man.

"Well, aren't _you_ a gentleman?" snorts Sigurd.

"Forgive my rude friend Sigurd here," said Nanaki. "My name is Nanaki. What is yours?"

"The name's Silas; Silas Seraph," introduced the young man. "I've never seen Lifestream before, so when I heard about the Lifestream spring here at Wutai, a part of me told me to come here to see it for myself."

The young man looks down at the surface of the Lifestream pool. "So this is what souls look like when they pass on. So much for retaining one's individuality after death."

He turns to look at the group. "So what are you guys doing here?"

"We're looking for a friend of ours," answers Logan. "She fell into a Lifestream spring somewhere."

"Is that so?" said Silas. "I've heard that once you fall into the Lifestream, you lose your mind as well as your sanity."

"That's not always true," affirms Nanaki. "There's some people who have been able to survive with their minds and sanity intact."

"Really now?" exclaims Silas, taking off his sunglasses. "That's very interesting."

"Whoa, you're an albino!" exclaims Zenith upon seeing the young man's crimson red eyes along with noticing his pale skin.

"Yes, that's another reason why people look at me," admits the young man. "I discovered the condition I have is quite rare."

"Very," asserts Logan. "You're the first albino we've ever met."

With a smirk, the albino young man turns to look at Nanaki. "You look familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"

Nanaki cocks his head to one side in curiosity. "No, I don't believe I've ever seen you before."

"Hmm, I see," responds Silas. "Then you've must've been someone I've seen in my former life."

"Your former life?" repeats the red-furred creature.

"I've only told one person this, but part of me feels that it would be allright to tell you too," explained Silas. He turns to approach the talking beast. "I've discovered that in my former life, I was someone everyone knew; someone very famous. I did things that would be deemed unforgivable and threatened the lives of many…"

Nanaki's four feathers quivered from his growing nervousness. The things the young man spoke of brought back many unpleasant memories of his past.

"Then, one night, a voice in my dreams told me the name of my previous identity," continued Silas. "It was then that I learned… that in my former life, I was known as a man by the name of… Sephiroth."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Nanaki's defensive instincts went into overdrive upon hearing that revelation from the young man. He bares his teeth and growls ferociously at him, the images of his old enemy springing up from deep within his mind and overwhelming his senses.

The others went on the defensive as well, having heard of stories about the famously great general of SOLDIER who went on a rampage to destroy all humans and become a god. Logan drew out Heaven's Cloud, Aya with the Scimitar and a sword, Roxy in martial arts stance with the God's Hand glove on, Sigurd with Dragoon Lance and Zenith with Prism Staff. Silas, however, was unaffected by the sudden reaction of the group towards his revelation and made no move to draw his sword.

"Yes, that was the same reaction that man in the waterfall gave me after I told him the same thing," spoke up the white-haired young man.

"Man in the waterfall?" Nanaki spoke through bared fangs. "You mean to tell me you've met Vincent? Vincent is still alive?"

"Is that what his name is?" wonders Silas. "He never did tell me what his name was. As soon as I told him who I was in my past life, he pulled that three-barreled gun of his on me. I thought for sure he would've used that bronze claw arm of his to choke me instead."

"How did you get there in the first place?" demanded Nanaki. "No one knows of that place except for my old friends and myself."

"Something led me there," answered Silas. "A voice told me to find surviving members of the group who defeated me in my former life and reveal who I previously was to them. I don't know why it commanded me to do such a thing. Perhaps it is punishment for my sins in my past life."

The young man drew out his weapon, letting the light dance on the long blade. "That same voice was also the one that told me where to find this sword, Masamune. It said that the sword rightfully belongs to me and no one else."

He looks up at the group and, unexpectedly, throws the weapon before them. All eyes look at him in confusion.

"What are you doing?" asks Roxy, her body still in a ready martial arts stance.

"Despite who I was in my past life, the fact remains that I am _not_ that same person," Silas declares firmly, his hands clenched into fists. "I don't know why my former identity chose to do what he did, but that gives you no reason to kill me. Vincent understood this and that's why I'm still alive and here. I am Silas, not Sephiroth, and I have done nothing wrong!"

Sensing the anger and pain in his voice, Nanaki relaxes as everyone else lowered their weapons.

"Our apologies," said the red-furred creature. "If you knew the true extent of Sephiroth's actions, you would feel the same way my friend Vincent and I do."

"And we shouldn't have reacted the way we did," adds Logan apologetically. "Everything we know about Sephiroth was through the stories told by the older generation. We have no right to feel how Nanaki feels."

"Yeah," exclaims Sigurd, scratching the back of his head bashfully.

"It's allright," assures Silas. "What's done is done. I'm just glad I've found the last surviving member of that heroic group. Now I hope the voice in my head will stop at long last."

Just then, the ground began quaking violently. The force of the quake causes the Da Chao monument to crumble and fall apart, expanding the Lifestream spring within.

"What's going on?" shouted Zenith worriedly.

"Everyone get back to the ship!" yelled out Sigurd. "This place could collapse at any minute!"

Everybody rushed to get back to the airship. During the commotion, Nanaki notices Silas bending over to retrieve his sword and sheath it. Feeling sorry for the way he treated the young man, the red-furred beast runs over to him and grabs hold of his trench coat with his teeth.

"Come with us," he told the young man. "We could use your help on our journey."

"But why would you want me knowing who I was in my past life?" asks Silas.

"This is _your_ life, Silas; your destiny depends on your present life, not your past one," asserts Nanaki.

Agreeing with the creature, Silas gives a nod and follows him to the airship. Once everyone was onboard, Sigurd lifts the Huge Bronco off the ground. From high above, they could see the mountain that the Da Chao statues were carved into crumble as if it was made of sand. The Lifestream spring within opened up larger as it spews its liquid contents all over the mountain's rocky remains. Aya felt extremely scared for her hometown and prayed intensely for the safety of her people. To her relief, only the ground underneath the Da Chao monument collapsed, leaving the entire town intact.

"That was weird," exclaims Zenith. "Why would the ground break up like that?"

"The same thing happened to Mideel about a hundred years ago," affirms Nanaki. "However, that collapse was a result of the instability of the Planet as a result of Sephiroth's tampering within the Lifestream near the Northern Crater. I don't know how to explain the reason for this collapse."

"Could it be that there's something in the Lifestream?" wonders Roxy. "Something that would disrupt the balance within it?"

That possibility filled Logan with worry. "Do you think Tracy is allright?"

"I'm sure she's just fine, Logan," assures Sigurd.

"Hey," spoke up Aya, suddenly remembering something. "What happened to Nova? Do you think he's allright?"

"Nova!" exclaims Logan. "He could've been trapped in that!"

A voice from behind startled the young man. "Did someone call me?"

Everyone turned to find Nova back in his bipedal form, alive and well.

"Nova!" vociferated Logan. "We were worried sick about you!"

"I'm sorry," apologizes the reptilian. "After I blew off some steam, I decided to come back to the ship to wait for you guys. I didn't mean to cause concern."

"It's allright Nova," assures Roxy. "We're just glad you're okay."

Nanaki, however, chose not to join in on the group's relief and decides instead to talk of their next move.

"I guess we're heading off to New Midgar now," he tells the others. "There's something there I want to look for."

Logan looks at the creature with concern. "What about Tracy?"

"She'll be fine," affirms Nanaki. "If she came out of that Lifestream spring, the locals will be able to take care of her. We can check back later after we find that thing in Sector 8."

Feeling unsure about the whole thing, Logan can do nothing but go along with Nanaki's plan and hope for the best.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Aerith, Zack, and Trang were spat out of the Lifestream spring at full force. They were glad yet worried at the same time for finally getting out of the Lifestream. Treading the greenish liquid on the surface, they looked around to find a town nearby. With unanimous nods from each other, they all swam towards the town, where the residents seem to be flustered about something.

Aerith walks up to one of them and asks what was going on.

"Our precious Da Chao monument has been destroyed!" exclaimed the inhabitant. "This is a sign of bad things to come!"

"May I ask what is this town called?" questioned the young woman.

"Wutai!" replied the inhabitant before rushing off to find survivors.

"Wutai, eh?" repeated Zack. "Sounds familiar. I think Sephiroth told me about it once. Wasn't there a war between Wutai and Shinra once?"

"Yeah, I learned about that in school," exclaims Trang. "The war lasted for about fifteen years, ending with the defeat of the Wutai people."

"How terrible," voiced Aerith.

"So, how long has it been since Sephiroth was defeated?" wondered Zack.

"Was that around the time of the Meteor incident?" asks Trang.

"Yeah, I think so," replied the former First Class SOLDIER.

"Then that's ancient history," answered Trang. "The Meteor incident occurred about a hundred years ago."

"A hundred years!" exclaimed Zack. "Boy, Aerith. We sure have a lot of catching up to do."

"We won't be here for long so there's no reason to," said the young brunette.

"Geez, Aerith, you sure know how to bring a guy down," groaned Zack. "C'mon, this is our second chance at life. Let's live it as if we've never died."

"I guess you're right," replied Aerith. "But first things first. Let's help our new friend find her friends."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It was late into the evening when the group finally arrived back in New Midgar. On the way, Nanaki had explained the whole situation to Silas, giving him an idea of what's going on. Everyone met up with Lacus at the now close Seventh Heaven. The deliverers were also gone as well, seeing as Lacus felt like letting them out early since the delivery requests that day were pretty stagnant in numbers.

"Looks like we won't be able to do anything until tomorrow," Sigurd noted as night fell over the city.

"So what is it that we're looking for in Sector 8 anyways?" wondered Aya.

Nanaki and Logan looked at each other and gave a nod before the red-furred beast came forward with their next plan. "Our new objective is to locate the container holding the remains of Jenova's head."

Gasps of shock filled the room upon hearing their new goal.

"What!" exclaims Roxy. "Are you kidding us? You want us to spend time to find an old relic that probably doesn't exist anymore?"

"Shinra's technology was very advanced for my day," explained Nanaki. "The container used to hold Jenova's head can't possibly erode away, even after a century has passed. I'm certain it is somewhere among the debris of old Midgar."

Cait Sith nods in agreement.

"My goodness," vociferates Nova. "Do you realize how long that's going to take? Even if all ten of us were to search Sector 8, that place is still too big and there's too much debris to look through."

"I agree with Nova," added Zenith. "What you're asking us to do could take forever."

"I know it will take a while, but surely not forever," responded Nanaki.

"What reason is there to find this Jenova's head anyhow?" wonders Silas.

Nanaki gave a sigh as he thought about whether to tell the others or not. A nod from Logan encourages him to share his feelings.

"You see," began the red-furred creature. "Recently, I've begun sensing some sort of disturbance in the energy flow of the Planet. My heart tells me that the enemy I had fought with my friends a long time ago may still exist."

"I've sensed that disturbance too," admits Nova. "It's bothered me as well."

"All answers point to Jenova," continued Nanaki. "Even now, no one really knows that much about the mysterious extraterrestrial that came here more than a millennium ago. I have a strong feeling that something or someone must've come across the container holding Jenova's head and did something with it. That's why we need to search Sector 8 for it."

Silence fell across the room until Lacus spoke up.

"Oh, before I forget," said the young man, turning to the red-furred creature. "Nanaki, someone's here to see you."

"Someone for me? Who?"

"He didn't say," replied Lacus. "He just came and asked to see you and Cait Sith. I told him to wait in the old office upstairs."

The two creatures in question look at each other before disappearing up the steps to the second floor of the bar.

-------------------------------------------------------------

After pushing open the door, Nanaki's heart nearly burst with joy upon instantly recognizing the familiar red tattered cape of his friend's outfit.

"Vincent!" he exclaims. "You're still around! I'm so glad!"

"Hey Red," greeted the ageless being seated on a chair.

Hearing his old nickname brought back so many memories of Nanaki's journey with his friends. He felt happy yet sad that five of his comrades were not around for this joyous reunion.

"Nice to see you again, Vincent," exclaims Cait Sith. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"A very long while," asserts Vincent. He shifts slightly in his seat to face the two. "I see you've met Silas."

"Yes, and you've probably recognized some of our friends' descendants and relations out there," adds Nanaki.

"Cid's grandson, for sure," noted Vincent. "But he doesn't curse as much or smoke. Makes me miss the old man."

"Heh, yeah," chuckles Cait Sith.

"And Aya reminds me of Yuffie so much, it's as if she never left," notes Nanaki. "You'd think they were related, but Aya's merely another inhabitant of Wutai, nothing more. And then there's Roxy…"

"Ah yes, Marlene and Denzel's granddaughter," exclaimed Vincent. "They did everything they could in order to make her the spitting image of Tifa."

"And Logan with his Heaven's Cloud and Fenrir is so reminiscent of Cloud…" said Nanaki.

"And Marlene still talks about Barret every time I see her," vociferates Cait Sith. "She speaks as if he wasn't dead but just away looking for alternative fuel sources."

The three of them sigh, drenched with so many memories of the past.

"Some friends you can never let go, no matter how hard you try," said Cait Sith sadly.

"Befriending their descendants and relations makes it even worse," notes Nanaki.

"And now you know why I've decided to go into isolation," spoke up Vincent. He gets up and glances out the window at the nighttime sky. "But enough about the past. It's time to focus on the present."

He turns to look at the two remaining members of his old friends. "There's something still around besides us, isn't there?"

"Yes," replied Nanaki. "It's…"

"Jenova," Vincent finishes before the red-furred creature could say it. "Ever since I encountered Silas, Jenova's been on my mind constantly. I came here in order to find out if you guys felt the same way."

"We do," affirms Cait Sith.

"Sephiroth's resurrection, his reappearance two years later, the silver-haired men," listed Nanaki. "All of it had Jenova written all over them."

"And now Silas is next in line to become the next Sephiroth," exclaims Vincent.

"That's not necessarily true," defended Nanaki. "Sure he is somewhat Sephiroth's reincarnation, but that doesn't mean that he's destined to become him."

"Yes, I know that," asserts Vincent. "However, there is the possibility that Jenova _will_ use him at one point or another. You remember what he said about hearing a voice. It must be Jenova for sure."

"But why would Jenova want him to tell the three of us who he was in his past life?" wonders Nanaki. "It doesn't make sense. Unless Jenova wanted us to kill him in order for it to use his body to resurrect Sephiroth."

"No," affirms Vincent. "Something tells me that Jenova is no longer concerned with bringing back Sephiroth again."

"Another Reunion?" suggests Cait Sith.

"Perhaps," thought Vincent. "Except this Reunion will have nothing to do with Sephiroth at all."

"Are you saying that Jenova is going to resurrect itself instead?" exclaims Nanaki anxiously.

"I guess it's tired of being the backseat driver, huh?" notes Cait Sith.

----------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, downstairs, the bar was deafly quiet as Zenith, Sigurd, Lacus, Logan, Aya, Roxy, Nova, and Silas either stood or sat around the bar. The atmosphere of the place was intense with intimidation as none tried to warm up to each other.

"So," spoke up Zenith, desperate to break up the silence. "Who do you think Nanaki and Cait Sith are talking to up there?"

"It's most likely Vincent. There's no one else left besides him."

The group turns to find an elderly couple stagger into the bar through the entrance.

"_Obaasan_! _Ojiisan_!" exclaimed Roxy in surprise. "What are you guys doing here? _How_ did you guys get here? You should've called me if you wanted to come over!"

"Calm down, Roxy," coaxed Marlene with a smile. "We may be old but our hearing is still fine."

"What?" exclaims Denzel jokingly.

"Oh, Denzel, you stop that," Marlene chastises her husband playfully.

The old man gives a humorous chuckle in response.

Just then, Vincent, Nanaki, and Cait Sith descend the stairs only to become face to face with familiar but old faces.

"Marlene! Denzel!" exclaimed the red-furred creature. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We heard there was a reunion so we decided to join you," answered Marlene.

"Heh, not really much of a reunion if some of our friends can't come," chuckles Nanaki nervously.

"I'm sure Papa will be back any day now," replied Marlene. "He must've found a good fuel source and can't bring himself to leave it."

Cait Sith and Nanaki sighed as they accepted the mild senility of their old friend.

"Well, we should all be going home and getting some rest," suggested Logan. "We'll need all the energy we can get in order to find that container."

"Oh, do you guys need a container for something?" asks Denzel, reaching into his pockets. "I found a pretty good one if you need it."

"It's not just any container, Denzel, it's…"

Nanaki never got to finish his sentence before the old man brought out a very familiar black container. So familiar in fact that it was actually the container holding the last of Jenova's head!

"Denzel!" exclaimed Cait Sith in surprise. "Where did you get that?"

"I got bored one day so I decided to go exploring around in Sector 8," explained the old man. "I found this while rummaging through some debris and I remembered seeing it when the silver-haired men kidnapped me years ago. It brought back memories of when Cloud came back to us so I've kept it as a memento."

"Wow, what are the chances of that?" vociferates Aya.

"Denzel, how long have you had that?" wondered Nanaki.

"Let me think," responded Denzel, putting his free hand to his chin and looking up at the ceiling in thought. "It was sometime before the earthquake that happened today… Yeah, I think I found it about seven days ago."

"That was when the voice in my head came about," exclaims Silas. "It was three days after that when I was led to the waterfall in the Western Continent to meet Vincent."

"This can't be right."

The albino looks down at the red-furred creature which was looking at the container with a worrying frown on his face.

"What's wrong, Red?" asks Vincent.

"Red?" exclaims Lacus with a confused look on his face.

"It's a long story; I'll tell you guys later," assures Nanaki. He returns his attention to the container in Denzel's hand. "There's something wrong with this container."

"What?" wonders Logan.

"When my friend Cloud accidentally sliced the container opened, he said that less liquid came out than he thought," began the red-furred creature. "Meaning that he opened up the second chamber of the container."

"Yep, the top's cut clean through," agreed Denzel, admiring the smoothness of the container's opened lip.

"So what's the problem?" asks Sigurd.

"I don't sense anything in the last chamber," responded Nanaki. "No liquid, no solid, nothing."

"Well, let's break it open and see," suggested Zenith, drawing out his Prism Staff with a grin.

"I think we should take a more methodical approach," suggested Nova.

With a nod, Cait Sith takes the container and works to open the last remaining chamber. All eyes were on the mechanical cat as he succeeds in opening the container. A shocked gasp escapes the lips of the toyasaurus upon looking into the container.

"What is it?" asks Aya anxiously. "I can't see!"

"There's nothing in there," exclaims Vincent ominously.

"What!" vociferates Roxy in surprise.

"Yep, nothing," affirms Cait Sith. "It's completely clean. No sign of anything liquid."

"That can't be right," argues Nanaki. "Jenova's head is quite big and the Turks wouldn't dream of leaving any bit of it behind. All three chambers of the container were filled with Jenova cells so there should be some in the last chamber."

"But I don't see anything," asserts Cait Sith. "Unless someone around here has a microscope."

"Leave it to me!" spoke up Aya as she snatches the container out of the toyasaurus' hands. "I've been wanting to use the microscope set I got for my birthday for a while now and this is the perfect opportunity!"

Before anyone else could object, the teenage girl dashes up to the bedroom upstairs where her traveling bag was kept.


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Hey there! ^^ This is my first time addressing my readers through my stories so forgive me if I seem to be a bit odd. I hope you've been enjoying my newest story so far. I'm hoping this will be the first Final Fantasy VII fanfiction I'll complete since I've been compiling ideas for this story for a while now.

Even though this chapter is quite small, I hope the small humor will satisfy you to some degree. Enjoy, and be sure to visit my deviantART to see drawings of some of my characters here. ^_^

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* * *

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**Chapter 7**

"Anything?"

"Nope."

A few minutes later.

"Anything?"

"Nope."

Five minutes later.

"Anything?"

"… No."

Ten minutes later.

"Anything?"

"Zenith, if you're going to be annoying, then just go downstairs and talk to the others!"

The hair on the back of Zenith's neck stood up more upon hearing his girlfriend burst out like that, but his demeanor remained unchanged.

"You're so cute when you're working, you know that?" he utters with a grin.

"Zenith," growled Aya as she glares at him.

"Allright, allright, I'll leave," assured the young man, scratching the back of his spikey haired head.

He exits the old office and gently closes the door behind him as not to further disturb the working girl. Going downstairs, Zenith notices everyone gathering around Nanaki as if they were children getting ready for storytime. Not wanting to miss anything, he stealthily sneaks himself into the audience as Nanaki began speaking.

"My nickname is Red XIII, a title given to me after Shinra took me away from my home and made me one of their scientific specimens," explained the red-furred beast. "The man who experimented on both me and Vincent was known as Professor Hojo. It was because of him that the madman known as Sephiroth came into existence about 85 years ago. It was then when I joined up with the people Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Barret and began our dangerous journey to rid the Planet of Sephiroth."

"And then afterwards, Sephiroth summoned Meteor and threatened the world in his plan to become a god, right?" adds Lacus.

"Yes, that's true," affirms Nanaki. "But behind all of this was Jenova. It was never really understood who was the one in control through all the chaos: Sephiroth or Jenova. My friends and I assumed it was Sephiroth, but we never did once leave Jenova out of the picture."

"Tell me, what _is_ Jenova?" wonders Silas.

"From what we could determine from our travels, Jenova was initially thought to be a member of a race of humans known as the Ancients or Cetra," answered Nanaki. "But it was later proven that Jenova was not a Cetra, but an extraterrestrial known as 'the calamity from the skies.' It became part of an infamous Shinra experiment known as the Jenova Project in which Jenova cells were injected into live human beings in order to create the perfect soldier. However, using full grown adults for the experiment had proven unsuccessful. Because of that, Professor Hojo decided to use something more immature and genetically flexible: his own unborn son. It was then that Sephiroth was born."

"That monster," commented Roxy. "Has he no ethics or morals?"

"Believe me, those were the least of Hojo's worries," asserted Nanaki. "He was only concerned with making the perfect soldier and, with Sephiroth, he managed to achieve his goal. But that didn't stop Hojo. No, Sephiroth's success motivated Hojo to make a whole army of perfect soldiers like him; Sephiroth clones. That was when the Shinra military unit known as SOLDIER was created."

"SOLDIER," exclaims Zenith. "Was everyone in SOLDIER merely Sephiroth clones?"

"In retrospect, that was the goal," answered Nanaki. "Each member of SOLDIER was put through a process known as Mako conditioning. Basically, they all get weekly Mako injections which enhance their physical and sometimes mental abilities. Once the Mako completely integrated into the members' bodies, that was when they began injecting Jenova cells into them. My friend Cloud was one of those who received these treatments in order to become a member of SOLDIER."

"So the treatments were a way of making sure only the strong will get into SOLDIER," concluded Zenith. "That doesn't seem so bad aside from the rigorous training."

"But," spoke up Nanaki. "The treatments had very serious side effects. Many members of SOLDIERs, if not all, ended up losing their sanity and became nothing more than pawns for Sephiroth to use."

"Oh," exclaimed Zenith. Suddenly, the fabulous idea of becoming a SOLDIER didn't seem so great anymore.

"This is going to be hard to re-explain to Aya," thought Lacus.

"Don't worry about her," assured Nanaki with a smile. "I have a feeling she may have already heard this story from a very reliable source."

The image of a very mature Yuffie surfaces in the red-furred creature's mind as he said that. Just then, as to reinforce that image, Aya came running down the stairs with a grin on her face.

"Eureka!" she cries out. "It's confirmed! There _was_ something in that container after all!"

Nanaki's heart leapt at the news, but at the same time it sank to know that.

"I've found traces of biological matter in the container," explained the teenage girl. "Whoever opened the container tried to clean out everything but failed."

"So something or someone did get to the container after all," affirms Cait Sith.

"But who or what did?" asks Vincent. "And for what purpose?"

"There will be time to figure all that out later," assured Nova. "Right now, what we really need more is sleep."

"Agreed," added Lacus. "A good night's rest will do us all some good."

* * *

Tired as they all were, everyone decided to spend the night at the bar. Numerous sleeping bags littered the floor of the bar and the new headquarters of the delivery service. Upstairs, Denzel and Marlene occupied the two beds there while Vincent, Cait Sith, and Nanaki took over the old office.

"I don't feel safe knowing that Sephiroth could be somewhere right now," voiced Nanaki with concern.

"We don't know that for sure," counters Vincent. "Jenova cells can be unpredictable. Who or whatever got to the container could've transformed into some monster instead."

"You know what we really need right now?" spoke up Cait Sith. "The old gang: Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Cid, and Barret."

"But they're gone now so we've got to do this on our own," admitted Vincent gloomily.

"We don't have to do it on our own," noted Nanaki. "We still have Logan, Aya, Silas, Roxy, Sigurd, Zenith, Lacus, and Nova. Not to mention Tracy too when we find her again."

"Tracy," exclaims Vincent. "That girl… She is a troubled one, isn't she?"

"That is only because her parents were abusive of her and her siblings when she was a child," argued Nanaki. "However, her parents did change their ways, but unfortunately the damage is already done."

"It's a good thing she has Logan and the others to hold her up," commented Cait Sith. "Who knows what kind of person she could've become if she didn't have friends like them."

"Another Sephiroth perhaps?" wonders Vincent.

"Don't even joke about that," exclaimed Nanaki.

"Don't worry Red," assures Cait Sith. "The Black Materia is long gone. Meteor will never come again."

"I sure hope so," uttered Nanaki.

* * *

Over at Wutai in the town's very first inn, the Leviathan Inn, Aerith was involved in a conversation with Zack as Trang slept.

"I remember this place now; I couldn't recognize it without that monument of theirs," noted Aerith. "This was where Yuffie lived."

"Interesting place," thought Zack. He glances over to check on the sleeping girl and then turns back to Aerith. "So where do we go from here?"

"The innkeeper told me that there's a ship that travels from here to the Western Continent," exclaimed the young woman. "We can take it in the morning and reach Rocket Town in the afternoon."

"Rocket Town, huh?" spoke Zack. "That's where Cid comes from, right?"

"Yep," answered Aerith with a smile. "Looks like I'll be taking you on a tour of everyone's hometown."

"Can't wait," replied Zack.

* * *

**A/N:** I wonder if anyone's noticed the connection between Aya's last name and the word "eureka" yet… XD


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Sorry for the delayed update. ^.^ College life has been taking a toll on me. (Especially with those crazy essays I have to do that require me to actually think! O.O *gasp*) Hopefully, my classes next quarter will allow me write more since the ideas for this story won't last very long in this short-attention spanned head of mine. ^^;

I hope my story hasn't been moving along _too_ fast for you. I'll try my best to slow it down for more character development.

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**Chapter 8**

Zack, Aerith, and Trang arrived at the beach closest to Rocket Town on the Western Continent the next day at noon. From there they took a taxi to the much expanded town, which was alive and doing very well despite a lack of a particularly important symbol in the midst of the place. Zack, unexpectedly, was the first to notice this missing aspect.

"Why is this place called Rocket Town anyways?" he wonders curiously as the three of them approach one of the entrances into the town.

"It was named for a rusty, old rocket that failed its launch," replied Aerith. "I forgot its name. It used to be a favorite item of Cid's, but, it's not here anymore. How odd."

"That rocket was called the Shinra No. 26," Trang fills her in. "It was used by Shinra about a century ago in a failed attempt to destroy Meteor."

"Hmm, you seem to know a lot about the Meteor incident," noted Zack. "It's as if you were there when it happened."

"Heh, I'm just very interested in the subject, that's all," responded Trang with a chuckle. "Actually, the Meteor incident was something I had learned at school. The details surrounding it, however, I found out for myself by taking a journey around the Planet. This place was one of them."

"That's great!" exclaims Aerith, clapping her hands together gladly. "You can fill us in on what happened after I died."

"Hey, how _did_ you die anyhow, Aerith?" wondered Zack. "You never really told me when we were in the Lifestream."

"I'd… rather not talk about that," responded the young brunette gloomily.

"Oh, okay," vociferates Zack. He suddenly felt bad for bringing up such an inappropriate subject. Suddenly remembering something, the former SOLDIER turns to Trang. "Hey, I just noticed something. We never did get your name, did we?"

"Oh, right," exclaims the young woman. "My friends call me Tracy."

"Tracy, huh?" responded Aerith. "That's a cute nickname, but we kind of prefer to call people by their real name."

"Well, no one really calls me by my real name being that no one was ever able to pronounce it anyhow," explains Trang.

"Can _we_ give it a try?" wondered Zack with a smile.

"If you want," replied the girl. Taking a deep breath, she declares her name using its original and proper pronunciation. "My name is Tráng."

"Tr-rong," stutters the young man nervously. "Like that?"

"No, Tráng."

Now it was Aerith's turn to give it a try. "Tr-hang?"

"Still wrong."

"Tr-ah-ng?"

"Kind of close there."

"Trung?"

"Now that's just way off."

"Tran?"

"Think you forgot the 'g' sound there."

"Okay, you know what," declared Zack, finally submitting defeat. "We'll just call you Tracy then."

"Yeah," agreed Aerith, seeming quite bashful. "We don't want to hack away at your name."

"It's no problem," chuckled Trang. She was used to being called by her nickname anyhow. Despite its ability to tongue-tie people, Trang still liked her name, even if people couldn't pronounce it properly.

"So, where do we go from here?" asked Zack, wishing to change the subject at hand.

"Hmm, I think from here, we go to Nibelheim," replied Aerith, putting a finger to her lips in thought. "Yeah, Nibelheim. That was where we went before heading to Rocket Town."

"Nibelheim?" repeated Zack worriedly. A flood of uncomfortable memories washes over in his head upon hearing the name of the town that was the beginning of his end.

Trang turns to the young man with a curious look in her eyes. Contrary to his strong and confident appearance, she could sense much nervous anxiety emanating from him when the name of that town came up. Feeling that bringing up what she learned about the town would bring back some bad memories for him, she decides to keep quiet on the subject. "There's no taxi that goes over the mountains so we'll have to travel there on foot. It'll take us approximately a day or two so we should get moving."

With a nod from her newfound friends, the three of them stop by an Item Shop to load up on provisions and they were on their way.

* * *

Logan felt a little more at ease as he and the others returned to the Huge Bronco with high spirits. They had arrived at Wutai in the morning to find that Trang was seen there accompanied by a couple. He wondered who his friend was traveling with as he takes a place on the floor of the airship's bridge. Maybe they were people from the past whom she had found while in the Lifestream. Logan didn't care; as long as his friend was out of the Lifestream and well, everything else did not matter much to him.

"The people said that Tracy and the couple took a ship to Rocket Town," said Aya.

"Let's go check it out then!" exclaims Roxy eagerly, throwing a fist into the air.

"Ah, Rocket Town," sighed Sigurd. "It's been a while since I've been back home."

Setting the airship's engines to full speed, the airborne vehicle races off into the distance.

* * *

"_Ohayou_, _obaasan_!"

Sigurd gives his elderly grandmother a gentle hug as the rest of the group files out of the Huge Bronco.

"It's great to see you again, Sigurd," exclaimed the elated old woman. She sees some particularly familiar faces enter exit the airship and greets them accordingly with a smile. "Vincent, Red, Cait Sith. I see you're all still well."

"Sierra," Nanaki greets back.

Cait Sith merely offers a friendly wave while Vincent gives a nod of acknowledgement.

"Hey, _obaasan_," spoke up Sigurd. "Where's _kaasan_ and _tousan_?"

"Oh, they're busy at the office, running the town," replied Sierra. She looks up proudly at her young grandson. "You're the spitting image of your grandfather, Sigurd. I wish he was still here to see what a fine young man you've become."

"Heh, in addition to cussing once or twice and smoking," chuckles the young pilot.

"Well, yes," responded the old woman humorously. "That's always been part of his 'asserting' personality."

The two of them laughs at their memorable reminders of Cid as Nanaki, Vincent, and Cait Sith smiles happily.

"Oh, speaking of remembering familiar faces," spoke up Sierra. "I saw Aerith with a young man and Tracy the other day; heard that they were going to Nibelheim today on their way to Midgar. That girl hasn't changed a bit since we last met. Perhaps she's like Vincent and can't age?"

"Aerith?" exclaims Nanaki in surprise. "Are you sure who you saw was Aerith?"

"Yes, of course," affirms Sierra. "I may be old, but my eyes are still as good as they've been when I was younger. And besides, who can forget a sweet girl like Aerith even after all these years?"

"Who's Aerith?" wondered Zenith.

"She's a good friend who died a long time ago," answered Cait Sith. "She must've been revived and came out of the Lifestream along with Tracy."

"But who is the young man that came out with them?" inquired Vincent curiously, crossing his arms.

"I don't know," replied Sierra. "I've never seen him before. He wore the same SOLDIER uniform that Cloud used to wear, but the color of his spikey hair was bluish black. He also possessed Cloud's old Buster Sword."

"How odd," exclaims Nanaki. "Is it someone Tifa and Cloud once knew? Or maybe an old acquaintance of Aerith?"

"Whoever he is, he must be a friend," asserts Cait Sith. "Aerith wouldn't travel with someone she doesn't trust."

"In that case, we should all head back to Midgar," suggests Lacus.

"Why not go to Nibelheim instead?" wonders Logan. "We can meet Tracy there."

"We don't know how far she is from Nibelheim," asserts Roxy. "Chances are, they might've already gotten there by now. By the time we get to Nibelheim, they would've already left and we would just end up using our resources on a wild goose chase. It'll be better to just go to Midgar and wait for her there since that's where she's headed."

Logan stood with fists clenched in frustration as he listens to the young woman's reasoning. For too long now he had been separated from his best friend and now that they were so close, fate once again pulls them apart. Nanaki senses his frustration and walks up to the young man only to have him speak first.

"I know, I know," exclaims Logan upsettingly. "'Don't worry and things will be allright,' right? Well, I can't help but worry, Nanaki. The fact is, Tracy is still out there and I just don't feel right about this."

With that said, the young man marches off to the airship's sleeping quarters. Nanaki's ears turn downward as he watches his young friend leave in such a condition.

"You can hardly blame him for acting the way he is," spoke up Vincent, walking up besides the red-furred creature. "Separation is hard on anyone."

"And don't we know it," agreed Nanaki with a sigh. "I wish Tifa was here. Helping someone through a bad situation has always been her area of expertise."

In the distance, the two of them could hear the slamming of a door.

* * *

Logan tried as best as he could to not slam the sleeping quarter's door shut, but his frustration got the best of him. He no longer cared about anything except for Trang's well-being.

Leaning on the wall next to the door, the young man looks down the two rows of twelve beds to glance up at the windows lining the wall adjacent to the one he was leaning on. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly in a repeating exercise that has proven more than once to calm him down. Still somewhat frustrated, he slumps down and ends up sitting on the floor, completely apathetic to the orientation of his glasses which had slid down the bridge of his nose. With eyes still closed, Logan began remembering the day he met Trang almost 12 years ago…

------------

It was a sunny afternoon in the city of New Midgar. Ten-year-old Logan was playing around with his friends Lacus, Zenith, Aya, and Roxy around the Seventh Heaven bar where Marlene was busy at work along with her son and daughter-in-law, Roxy's parents. The five of them were pretending to be various members of the famous group that saved the Planet from the threat of Meteor long ago. They wandered away from the bar and eventually ended up at the border between Sector 7 and the recently added Sector 8, which housed the remains of old Midgar. Pausing in their imaginary adventures, the children look up in awe and curiosity at one of many tall structures that littered Sector 8.

"Let's go back guys," suggested Roxy. "We're not supposed to be playing around this Sector."

"Don't be so scared, it's only a pile of junk," snorted Lacus.

"I'm not scared!" asserted Roxy strongly. "I just have a bad feeling about this place, that's all."

"I heard that the famous Ultima sword is somewhere in there," spoke up Aya eagerly. "Wouldn't it be cool if we could find it?"

"Hey Logan," Zenith nudges his nearsighted friend with an elbow. "I dare you to go into Sector 8 and get that sword."

Logan said nothing as he readjusts his glasses, which were messed up a bit by his friend's well-intentioned nudge. He too was curious about the legendary Ultima sword which was wielded by the great warrior Cloud Strife to save the world more than once. He looks up at the foreboding entrance leading into the junkyard sector and gulps nervously. "Okay."

"Logan!" exclaims Roxy upsettingly. "Don't even think about it. All of our parents told us never to go into Sector 8 without them. You're going to get into trouble!"

"I heard you can become a legendary warrior if you got your hands on the Ultima sword," Zenith whispers into the boy's ear. "Wouldn't that be something?"

Hearing that made Logan want to go into the forbidden area more than ever. All his life, everyone kept underestimating him, saying that he wasn't strong enough to fight monsters and whatnot. If he could get his hands on the legendary weapon, maybe that would be enough to get people to acknowledge him.

That was it; Logan had made his decision.

"Logan! Wait!"

But Roxy's worrying words failed to reach her friend as the boy dashes into Sector 8 by himself.

"Hey, I didn't really mean we should actually go find it!" Aya yells out. "Logan! Come back!"

"This is all your fault!" Roxy exclaims angrily, giving Zenith one very good punch in the shoulder. "Why'd you have to go and say stuff like that to him?"

"Oww!" the boy cries out as he felt the girl's fist connect with his arm. "I didn't think he'd actually do it!"

"Well, it's too late for any of us to do anything," notes Lacus. "We'll just have to wait and hope for him to come out in one piece."

"Whah? What do you mean 'wait'?" vociferates Aya. "We've got to go in there and drag him out."

"And what we do if something happens to all of us while we're in there?" asks Lacus logically. "There won't be anyone to go call for help. In addition to that, if some of us go in there to find him while the rest of us wait, then they'll get lost along with Logan and there'll be even more trouble for us. It'll be better if we all just wait out here instead of some or all of us getting lost in there."

"Ooh," Roxy exclaims in frustration. She turns to look at the entrance into Sector 8. "Logan, you'd better come out there in one piece."

------------

Meanwhile, Logan was going deeper and deeper into Sector 8. It was like running through a physical exercise gauntlet as he clambers over piles of rocks, rubble, and debris. He stops atop one of the higher piles of building rubble to look over the area. Everything in his field of vision was a kaleidoscope of slate and black sharp geometric shapes. He didn't know where to start in his search for the legendary sword, if it was here in actuality. Logan shakes his head free of that discouraging possibility and begins climbing down the little mountain of rubble he was on. As he carefully made his way down, he suddenly spots what he thought was a little girl around his age bent over near some weird structure he'd never seen before. Suddenly, a rock beneath his shoes slides away and the boy plummets downward. He hits the ground hard, knocking the wind out of him as he slowly fell unconscious.

After what seemed like a very long time, Logan awoke to see the light of the sun beaming down on him. Still dazed from the fall, it took the boy a while to finally regain his orientation and sit up.

"Are you okay?"

Logan turns to see the girl he saw earlier kneeling down besides him. "Yeah, I guess."

"You fell down pretty hard," noted the girl.

"You can say that again," agreed the boy, rubbing the back of his throbbing head. "Good thing I've got a hard head."

The girl gives a smile that Logan thought didn't seem natural to her. It was as if it was the first time she'd ever smiled in her life.

"What's your name?" he asks her.

"My name's Tráng," the girl introduces herself.

"Trong?" repeated Logan dubiously.

"No, Tráng," repeated the girl.

"Trahng?" the boy tries again.

"Nope, still wrong."

The girl tries for a few minutes to teach him how to say her name correctly to no avail. After many more tries on her name, Logan finally submits to his inability to say it.

"I'm sorry I can't say your name," he apologizes to her.

"It's allright," assures Trang. "You can just call me Tracy. That's what my teachers call me."

"Tracy," repeated Logan. "Yeah, that's a lot easier to say."

The girl gives him that unnatural smile of hers again. "So, what's your name?"

"Oh, my name's Logan," introduced the boy.

"Logan," repeated Trang.

"Yep," affirms Logan. "A lot easier to say than your name, huh?"

"I don't mind my real name," assures the girl. "I still like it, even if people can't say it right. It makes me unique."

"Sure does," agrees the boy.

With a smile, Logan tries to get up but falls down in a slump. The impact of the fall on his head has left him disoriented and unable to stand on his own. Seeing his dilemma, Trang puts his left arm around her neck and slips her right arm around his waist to gently help him up.

"Heh, thanks," responded Logan nervously.

"No problem," replied Trang as she helps him walk to the entrance of the sector where he came from.

"Hey, um, not to be rude or anything," began the boy. "But could you let me walk on my own when we get to the entrance? I kind of don't want my friends to see me getting help from a girl."

"Sure, I'll do that," exclaims Trang. "Boys are so weird."


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Hooray, no more essays! (Until next quarter, that is. ) This special chapter puts a little more focus on Zack and Aerith, as well as provide some insight on Trang. (Ooh! O.O) Hope you enjoy!

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**Chapter 9**

A chill ran down Zack's spine upon setting foot on the ghostly town known as Nibelheim. However, despite its daunting history, the town had changed a lot since Zack last saw it. For one thing, the Shinra Mansion was no longer the huge house he used to know. The building had more structures added on and was now the town's official inn, the Nibelheim Bed & Breakfast. The former SOLDIER wonders if the basement was still intact even after all these years as he stares up at the new structure. Aerith seemed to be wondering the same thing too, for she was also gazing up at the building as well.

"I wonder if there's anything in this town that's left from the old Nibelheim," the young woman thought out loud.

"If you're talking about Cloud and Tifa's old houses, they're still in one piece," responded Trang. "However, they're not in the original location anymore since the town has expanded quite a bit since then."

"Really?" exclaims Aerith happily. "Can we go see them?"

"Sure," replied Trang. "The townies converted the two houses into museums and hold tours of them once a day."

"How… nice of them," Aerith vociferates nervously. "Boy, don't I feel literally ancient now."

"You girls go on ahead," said Zack. "I'm going to go check something out."

"Allright," agrees Aerith. "We'll meet back at the inn later."

"Okay then," responded Zack. "_Ja ne_!"

With a wave of his hand, the former SOLDIER turns towards the direction of Mount Nibel while the girls headed for the house tours. A strange feeling washes over him as he saunters up the mountain using the same winding pathway he used when he came here on his last mission with Cloud and Sephiroth.

"Sephiroth…"

Zack still couldn't believe how his once best friend changed so dramatically that day. Even after he saw what Sephiroth tried to do, Zack still had faith that the old Sephiroth he once knew still existed in the body of that madman. However, he knew he would never find out. Sephiroth was officially dead and not once did Zack meet up with the man while in the Lifestream. Perhaps he was avoiding him? That possibility didn't seem too farfetched.

With a sigh, Zack manages to make it to the all too familiar bridge he remembered crossing. The Nibelheim inhabitants had made sure to replace the old wooden bridge with a stronger and more flexible one made of steel. Despite the new material, it was still a rickety bridge, as Zack soon discovered upon stepping foot on it. True to its structure, the bridge did not break at all and the young man was able to get up to the cave with no trouble at all.

Curtains of cobwebs and winds full of dust greeted Zack upon entering the cave. Taking out his reliable Buster Sword, the former SOLDIER began swatting away the blanketing cobwebs as he delved deeper into the cave. He could clearly make out the tube slides that provided faster access to the lower floors of the cave. Thinking he would come out as a mummy wrapped in loads of spider webs should he use any of them, Zack decides instead to use the metal ladders near the tubes. However, unlike the bridge, these ladders weren't replaced with better ones and had rusted greatly due to time. With a nervous gulp, he makes his way down them to the second level of the cave, making sure he wouldn't do anything to make the weak structure break under his weight.

He heaves a big sigh of relieve after reaching the rotting wooden floor of the second level. Being careful not to break the weakened planks either, Zack makes his way to the door leading outside to the Mako reactor.

After seeing the shape the interior of the cave was in, it didn't surprise Zack to see the Mako reactor rusted and unused as well. Apparently since no one uses Mako energy anymore, the reactor has fallen to disuse and constant abuse from the weather.

Taking a deep breath, Zack forces himself to enter the reactor with a heaviness in his heart that has yet to be lifted. He makes his way across pipes, down large chains and across a catwalk to the place where his life began falling apart. Or rather, Sephiroth's mentality when he learned of the human experiments Shinra kept there.

The pods that once held the unfortunate subjects of Shinra's science were still there, albeit the inhabitants inside were no longer alive. Blankets upon blankets of dust lay over the pods and the floors, kicking up in a thick fog whenever Zack took a step. The smell of decomposition filled the young man's nostrils as he ascended the stairs to the room of his fateful conflict with Sephiroth.

The door of the room had fallen off, its hinges eaten away by rust. Dust also covered every inch of this room as well, even the broken tank that used to contain the mysterious Jenova creature. Zack looks up at the tank with its glass lined with dust, completely empty except for a few traces of biological matter, most likely belonging to Jenova. A grimacing frown fell over his face as he rolls his hands up into fists and clenches his teeth.

"It was all your fault," he growls angrily. "If it wasn't for you, Sephiroth wouldn't have gone crazy and killed all those people. If it wasn't for you, Cloud wouldn't have been turned into another of Hojo's demented experiments. I lost a good friend and was forced to see another watch me die in front of him…"

With both hands, Zack whips out his Buster Sword and destroys the rest of the tank with one blast of his Blade Beam. "Damn you!"

Dust filled the air and wreaked havoc on Zack's senses, but he didn't care. Tears stream out of his eyes and burn his face as he hung his head with his sword in hand. "Damn you, you monster. Damn you to hell!"

* * *

Evening came rolling along as Aerith and Trang waited for their male companion outside of the inn.

"Is Zack always this late?" wondered Trang.

"Sometimes," answered Aerith. "Back when we dated, his job as a SOLDIER would occasionally get in the way and he'd end up being late to a lot of our dates."

"Zack was a member of SOLDIER?" gasped Trang in surprise. "And he used to be your boyfriend? What happened?"

"Well, we only dated when he was stationed in Midgar where I live," explained the brunette. "After he left, we'd sometimes send letters to each other. Then, after a while, we just lost contact with each other entirely. I guess that's how we broke up."

"You used to live in Midgar?" Trang blurts out again in surprise. "That's where I live, along with the rest of my friends."

"Really?" Now it was Aerith's turn to be surprised. "How is Midgar, anyways? Has it changed a lot?"

"You'll see," replied Trang. "But from what I heard about the city from the older generations, your Midgar and mine are extremely different."

"Hmm, I wonder if my old house is there," the brunette thought out loud, putting a finger to her lips. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."

Just then, Zack appears and comes up to the girls in very dirty condition.

"What happened to you?" demanded Aerith. "You're all covered in dust and spider web! Just because we're old doesn't mean we have to look the part."

The young man chuckles humorously at his friend's joke. "I just had a little accident, that's all. Don't worry; I'll shower it all off later."

"We've already got a room so how 'bout you do that _now_?" spoke up Trang, holding her nose. "You don't only look old, you smell old too."

"Allright, allright, ladies," Zack laughs with a grin.

* * *

Logan awoke to find himself in bed with a blanket over him. With eyes opened fully, he turns to his left and scans his surroundings to discover that he was in the apartment bedroom of the Seventh Heaven bar.

"You're finally awake."

The young man turns to his right to see Roxy leaning on the wall. A meek smile forms across her face as she turns to face him.

"When did we get back?" he asks her.

"Just this evening," answered the young woman, gazing out of the window into the night. "You fell asleep on the Bronco and Lacus and Zenith had to drag you up here."

"Oh…"

Roxy looks at her friend curiously. The young man seemed off ever since he heard about what had happened to Trang. Though she didn't have any personal feelings for him, Roxy still felt deeply concerned for the guy. She saw him as a little brother she had to watch over and take care of since she didn't have any siblings of her own besides her male martial artist cousins; the same went for Lacus and Zenith as well. Speaking of which…

"Hey, how's sleepin' beauty here?"

Zenith was the first to enter the room, followed by the laidback Lacus with his hands in his pockets, Aya with a light smile on her face, and Nova in his bipedal form with his tail swiveling from side to side.

"Dude, you're heavy with that Heaven's Cloud sword of yours," drawled Lacus. "I would've smacked you awake instead of carrying your sorry butt up here if it wasn't for Zenith."

"Hey guys," Logan greets them meekly.

"You okay?" wonders Aya. "We got kind of worried when you disappeared on us like that."

"_Gomen-nasai_," apologizes Logan sincerely. "I didn't mean to cause concern."

"Is there something wrong?" Nova inquires curiously. Being a non-human as he is, Nova is able to sense a change in demeanor in people, especially those he's close to.

"No, it's nothing at all," assured Logan.

However, Roxy knew that there was something wrong indeed. "We'll see Tracy again, Logan. Just you wait."

The young man remained silent in bed as he hangs his head slightly in response to his friend's assuring words. "Where's Nanaki, Vincent, and Silas?"

"They're all downstairs with Cait Sith," replied Zenith.

Logan gives a tired sigh after thinking about what he had said to the red-furred creature. "I should go."

He tries to get out of bed but was suddenly struck with a strong case of dizziness as he did so. Roxy was the closest one to him so she was able to catch him quickly and easily before he could hit the floor.

"Logan!"

The young man turns to look at his "savior." "Thanks, Roxy."

"You haven't been sleeping well these past few days," she tells him. "You should stay in bed for the rest of the night."

"I'm fine, really," assures Logan. "I just need to move around a bit, that's all."

"I don't care what you think, you need rest," asserts Roxy firmly. "You don't look so good."

Everyone looks at him in silence until Lacus finally expresses how he felt about the whole situation with an exasperated sigh. "You're so difficult, dude."

With that said, the young man exits the room and descends the stairs along with Zenith and Aya. Worried about their straining friendship, Roxy looks at Logan with a feeling of hopelessness.

"You're not the only one worried about her, Logan," she tells him assertively. "We all are. We're her friends too, don't forget that."

"I haven't forgotten anything," responded the young man.

"Then don't push us away when we all have the same objective," argues Roxy fiercely.

"Are you sure about that?" retorts Logan.

"Yes I am!" affirms the young woman. "Tracy is important to us, nothing can change that, but that doesn't mean we should ignore the bigger picture here."

"What bigger picture?"

Roxy was about to blow up in anger, but Nova beats her to it.

"Haven't you noticed anything?" demanded the bipedal lizard. "The collapse of the Da Chao monument as a result of the Lifestream spring; Silas' confession of his past life; the reappearance of a deceased friend of Nanaki's… There's something going on with the Planet that we need to figure out!"

"All of that doesn't concern me," declared Logan. "I just want to see if Tracy's all right."

"Would you just forget about what happened 8 years ago?" roared Nova. "Your grip on the past is making you lose focus of what's going on now. There's a strong possibility the Planet could be in danger again and Tracy might have something to do with it."

Logan became silent once again and says nothing to alleviate the situation. Angered by the apathy of the young man, Nova stomps out the door with Roxy following slowly behind. She couldn't bear to see her friends like this and it hurt her very much to know that there wasn't anything she could do to make it better. Taking hold of the doorknob in her hand, she watches as Logan fell back upon the bed while she closes the door behind her.

"Tracy, please come back soon," she whispers quietly to herself.

* * *

That night at the Nibelheim inn, Trang tosses and turns anxiously in her sleep as various unfamiliar images flash by in her dream.

_A strong man wearing a black outfit with silvery long hair stands in the midst of a burning town. Looking up with demonically evil-looking green cat eyes, he turns and walks away into the flames of the fire._

_A strange-looking creature is contained within a glass cylinder tank full of clear liquid. Upon what looked like its head was an odd helmet with something inscribed upon it. As she gets closer to the being, she could clearly read what was spelled out in large letters._

_Jenova…_

_The same man she saw in her previous dream flash was coming out of a room carrying the head of the creature labeled as Jenova. He had defeated a man who was wounded and lying down on something that looked like a pod._

_Zack…?_

_There was another man there. He was younger and had blonde spikey hair like the wounded man. The blonde haired man took up the wounded man's sword and went after the man with silvery long hair._

Trang awoke with a start, her body drenched in nervous sweat. She pants heavily from the intensity and vividness of the dream, confused and unsure of what to think of it. She looks over towards the next bed to see Aerith fast asleep. Between them on the floor lay Zack who was also sleeping soundly as well.

_What happened to you Zack?_ she wonders curiously. _Did something bad happen here in Nibelheim a long time ago? Is that why you were acting so strangely about this place?_

The unnoticing young man gives a snort and turns over on his side as he continues sleeping. Thinking that what she saw was nothing more than a dream, Trang lays her head down again and goes back to sleep.

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**A/N:** *gasp* What does this mean? What's going to happen next? I don't know! (I'm actually thinking stuff up as I go along so I'm excited to see how this story is going to unfold. ^^; )


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N:** _Gomen-nasai_ for the long delay. I've been busy working on my Kingdom Hearts fanfiction in addition to this one and a college research paper on Anime. Busy, busy, busy, that I am!

Since I'm working on two stories at once, both will be updated on a monthly basis. So sorry.

To apologize for the delay, I've compensated by making this particular chapter _very_ interesting. I hope you enjoy it!

_Ja ne_!

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**Chapter 10**

The next day, Zack, Aerith, and Trang bid farewell to the innkeeper of the Nibelheim Bed & Breakfast and head for the mountains. Luckily, the three of them discovered a Chocobo renting service that lends green Chocobos to visitors traveling from Nibelheim to North Corel through the mountain range. Glad to see that they'll have some sort of transportation, Trang goes up to the Chocobo keeper and asks about his rates.

"Well, a one-way trip is 500 Gil per person and a round-trip is 1000 Gil per person," explains the keeper. "For the one-way trips, I have a keeper on the other side of the mountains who can send me back any Chocobos I need. Round-trips are more expensive because you're reserving Chocobos and making them unavailable for one-way trips."

"We're only going one-way so," replies Aerith.

"Allright then, this way," the keeper motions them the follow him to the Chocobo stables.

The stables were built out of wood in order to allow easier air circulation and keep the Chocobos cool. All in all, there were about twenty occupied Chocobo stalls where the green Chocobos were squawking away excitedly to get out.

"Now then, have any of you ever ridden a Chocobo before?" wonders the keeper, turning around to face them.

Trang responds to the question positively, but Aerith and Zack were a whole other story.

"Well, I haven't ridden a Chocobo in a _really_ long time," explains Aerith, recalling her one-time experience when she traveled with Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and Nanaki and the group had to catch Chocobos in order to cross the swamp guarded by the terrible Midgar Zolom.

"I've never ridden a Chocobo, _period_," replies Zack somewhat embarrassingly. During his time in SOLDIER and even before then, Zack never had a reason to learn how to ride Chocobos since he was always traveling in the Shinra trucks and occasionally used motorcycles to get around.

"I see," exclaims the keeper. "Well, usually I charge 50 Gil for riding lessons, but since you kids caught me in a good mood today, I'll teach ya fer free."

After thanking the middle-aged man graciously, Aerith and Zack went about trying to learn Chocobo-riding. All Trang could do was stand by and watch the potential theatrics with a smile. Surprisingly, Aerith caught on pretty quick and in less than an hour, she's riding the training Chocobo as if she's done it her whole life. The young woman was greatly relieved that she had that riding experience in the past, even if it was eighty years ago.

Zack, on the other hand, was a different case entirely. No sooner had the keeper helped him get on the Chocobo did the big green bird start dashing around in the training corral with Zack hanging helplessly on the tail in tears.

"HOW DO YOU STOP THIS THING?!" he cries out.

"Chocobos can sense when a rider is inexperienced! This one in particular loves to get mischievous whenever he gets a novice rider on him!" explains the keeper as he runs after them.

Meanwhile, Trang and Aerith are laughing their heads off at the spectacle.

* * *

After two more hours of teaching, Zack finally manages to successfully ride the Chocobo and the three of them were finally off towards the mountains. As they traveled along, Trang and Aerith could not help but have sporadic giggle-fits whenever they looked at the poor young man on his bird.

"Would you guys knock it off already?" Zack sighs with exasperation. "It's not funny anymore."

"Oh, but it was and still is," replies Trang with another fit of giggling.

"I can't wait to tell Cloud and the others," exclaims Aerith with a grin.

"You wouldn't," responds the young man with a glare.

"Stop being such a Bandersnatch," the brunette banters back.

"I hate Chocobos," groans Zack.

"You're just saying that because you were unlucky enough to get a bad one," chuckles Trang. With a soft kick to the sides of the Chocobo, Trang dashes further ahead of her two friends. "Last one to the other side is a rotten Cactuar!"

"Oh no you don't!" exclaims Aerith, racing after her.

"H-hey! Wait for me!" adds Zack as he clumsily coerces his Chocobo to chase after them into the sunset.

* * *

Back in the mind plane of the Lifestream, Cloud sat alone in the whiteness as he contemplates silently in the stillness. He senses another presence and turns to find Tifa coming up and sitting down besides him.

"What are you thinking about?" she wonders out loud.

"You should know," replies Cloud with a soft chuckle. "You know me better than anyone."

"Yeah, you got that right," responds Tifa with a smile. She stares out into the empty space before them for a few minutes as she began thinking. "I wonder how Zack and Aerith are doing."

"I hope they're having the time of their lives," thought Cloud.

"Me too," agrees Tifa.

* * *

As expected, Aerith, Zack, and Trang discover the Chocobo renting station on the other side of the mountains and proceed to drop their birds off there at the stables. From there they continued the rest of the way on foot until they reached North Corel. Or rather, the North Corel train station; the site of the old North Corel camp was converted into a modernized train station and the inhabitants have moved back to the original Corel located in the desert. The quicksand that lined the perimeter of the desert was still there; however, travelers can ride Buggies that act like buses which take them from the outskirts of the town inside and vice versa. The Golden Saucer park was still there and now stands as the official tourist attraction of the very expanded town of Corel. The blue Tram still remains and provides visitors direct transportation to the Golden Saucer from the North Corel train station.

Upon reaching the North Corel train station, the three travelers hear in a circulating rumor that the recent owner of the Golden Saucer has gotten his hands on a strange new monster and was exhibiting the creature at the park. Curious to see what the creature was, Zack, Aerith, and Trang proceed to the Tram until a Tram attendant stops them.

"I'm sorry, but tonight's Ladies' Night at the Golden Saucer," apologizes the female attendant. "No men allowed."

"Aww, what a shame," exclaims Aerith.

"Oh well," sighs Trang, crossing her arms behind her black-haired head. "We can see the monster tomorrow I guess."

"Oh, I'm afraid that won't be possible," spoke up the attendant. "The Golden Saucer owner, Gio, has decided that today will be the last day he will be exhibiting the monster. Someone is planning to purchase the creature from him."

"What?" exclaims Zack in surprise.

With an apologetic bow from the attendant, the three of them huddle together to pool their options.

"I really want to see that monster," vociferates Trang anxiously.

"I want to see the Golden Saucer again," adds Aerith.

"And I want to see the Golden Saucer, too," adds Zack. "Besides…. I can't let you girls go up there on your own."

"C'mon Zack; we can take care of ourselves," argues Trang. "And it's not like you can if you wanted to anyways. Ladies' Night, remember?"

All of a sudden, Aerith turns around to face her back to them and breaks out into another giggle fit. Zack and Trang are confused until the young woman too starts giggling and grinning as well.

"Ooh-kay, can someone fill me in on the joke?" exclaims the poor young man. "Is this a girl thing or something else? What's so funny?"

Almost as quickly as the giggle-fest began, it suddenly ended as Trang and Aerith turn to face their male friend with smug smiles plastered onto their faces. For a few moments, Zack looks back at them in confusion, wondering what it was that they were smiling about. He turns around and then looks back at them again to find that they were indeed smiling at him. But what for? As Zack scratches his head, the realization hits him like a ton of Huge Materia.

"OH NO!" he exclaims with big shocked eyes. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NOO!! YOU WOULDN'T!"

"Why Aerith, doesn't Zack have the nicest long hair?" began Trang playfully.

"Why yes, Tracy, Zack does indeed have nice long hair," Aerith giggles back in response. "Maybe we can do some braids or curls."

"Ooh, maybe we can tie them up into bunches*!" suggests Trang excitedly, clapping her hands together.

As the two young women continue trading ideas, Zack could do nothing but stare at them in nervous fear. "What have I gotten myself into?"

* * *

Trang and Aerith stare out the window of the Tram in wonder as the vehicle takes them closer and closer to the Golden Saucer. They breathe sighs of awe as they watch the blinking decorative lights of the park and the ongoing whimsical theme music.

"Isn't this great, _Zackina_?" chuckles Trang as the two girls look to their "female" companion for a response.

"This is embarrassing," groans the dressed-up young man with arms crossed to cover his water-balloon breasts. "We're going to get caught."

"Well maybe if you have left your Buster Sword back in the train station's lockers, it wouldn't make you stick out so much," retorts Aerith.

"I'm not leaving my sword anywhere," grumbles Zack as she shifts uncomfortably in his airy emerald-colored floral dress with short sleeves, which was picked out of a store courtesy of his girl friend. His raven-black hair was watered down and curved slightly inward in an attempt to make him look more feminine in addition to a matching green headband. In place of his gloves, he wore charm bracelets which Trang and Aerith both claim look cute on his manly wrists. To him, they felt like prisoner's shackles.

"Really, Zack, you're as iffy as Cloud was when I dressed him up as a woman," notes Aerith with a smirk. "Although, he was more flexible towards the idea than you."

"What?!" exclaims the young man with wide eyes full of surprise. "Cloud dressed up as a woman too?"

"Only because he had to in order to save Tifa," replies the brunette. "You know, we should get both of you guys to dress up together. That'd be the cutest picture ever!"

A feeling of disturbed shock shivers up Zack's spine as the imagined what his best bud looked like in a dress and decked out like a woman. He gives a grimacing grin as he puts his hand over his eyes. "No wonder Cloud's so emo. Poor guy… Poor _us_!"

"We're here!"

Trang nearly leapt up in excitement as the Tram pulls into the ropeway station. Like two little kids in candy land, she and Aerith tremble with anxiety as they waited for the air trolley to stop and open its door.

With a whoosh of air escaping from the its brakes, the Tram's door slides open and a flood of women and little girls spills out from within, carrying Zack out along with Trang and Aerith. As the disoriented young man tries to right himself up, the two girls were busy checking out the park map and deciding where to go to first.

"Oh wow, they added a LOT of things!" exclaims the brunette.

"Ooh, let's go to the Speed Square!" suggests Trang.

"Hmm, I want to see what the Round Square has," returns Aerith.

"How about we all just calm down for a few minutes?" gasps Zack as he stumbles up to them. Luckily, Aerith and Trang opted to let him keep his boots since he argues that Aerith wore boots too. If he hadn't won the argument, he'd be in high heels and in pain. "The place doesn't close until midnight so we have plenty of time."

"Oh yeah, the monster!" exclaims Trang, hitting her fist into her hand. "We should go see that first before they take it down later."

"Excuse me," Aerith calls out to a man hopping by in a Chocobo costume. "Where can we find the monster?"

"That exhibit is located in Battle Square," replies the employee. "But it won't be open for a couple of hours."

"Really now?" exclaims the brunette with a disappointed sigh. She turns to face her friends as the costumed man hops away. "Guess we have two hours to kill then."

"Speed Square!" chirps Trang with a grin.

After paying the entrance fee, the three of them proceed to the Speed Square where the black-haired young woman eagerly leaps into the seat of the rollercoaster shooter.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Zack whispers to Aerith, who nods in agreement.

During the ride, the half-Ancient and former SOLDIER watch with wide fearful eyes as Trang excitedly shoots everything she could find. Zack in particular was impressed with how she was careful not to use up her ammunition too quickly despite her trigger-happy persona. She would've been one heck of a sharpshooter in Shin-Ra. Aerith was just plain nervous.

_What an interesting girl_, she thought with a meek smile.

Thanks to her shooting ability, Trang manages to rack up enough points to get one of the better prizes after the ride. With a huge grin, she picks out a big stuffed yellow Chocobo and turns to face Zack. She then thrusts the stuffed animal into the young man's arms, which catches both him and Aerith off guard.

"This is a gift from me to you," she tells him. "For all the birthdays you missed years ago."

If Zack's face could blush a brighter shade of red, he'd look like a ripe tomato. Aerith, on the other hand, did nothing but smile at the gesture.

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" she coos tenderly.

"Y-you… really didn't… really didn't need to, ya know," stutters the young man most difficultly as he held the stuffed animal in his arms. "Birthdays aren't… that important to me."

"Don't be such a Bandersnatch, Zack," banters Aerith. "Just because you were a First Class SOLDIER doesn't mean you're too manly for birthday presents."

With an awkward sigh, the young man gives a smile of thanks and accepts the gift, making Trang very happy. Aerith looks up at a clock and notes that they still have time for one more thing before the monster exhibition opens. Trang suggests going on the Gondola for a change of pace, since she noticed how uneasy the other two felt on the rollercoaster shooter ride.

They arrive at the Round Square and each takes a seat on the wooden benches inside the shack-like ride, Trang across from the stuffed toy Chocobo and Aerith across from Zack. As they look outside the window, Aerith smiles at her dress-wearing male friend.

"Looks like you got to take me to Golden Saucer for our date after all," she laughs gently.

"Yeah, but I was expecting _you_ to be the only one wearing a dress for the date," retorts Zack playfully, pulling the bottom of his dress down so that it would cover his exposed knees.

While the two of them exchange joking responses, Trang gazes out the window at the park outside with a rather sad look on her face. Aerith was the first to notice after some time had passed and became a little worried and curious at the same time.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend, Tracy?" she asks the young woman.

The question caught the black-haired girl by surprise as she pulls her eyes away from the window and looks at her friends. She thought about her answer and looks down at the floor. "Yeah, I did. Once."

"What kind of guy was he like?" continues Aerith.

Trang thought long and hard about her former boyfriend as she picks up her head and stares at the stuffed Chocobo. It had been a long time since she last saw him and even longer since the day they became a couple. "He was… a very nice guy… and very cute." Remembering the good times brought a smile to her face. "For me, he was my best friend. We talked about all sorts of stuff. He was amazed that I like guy stuff like weapons and fighting. We got along really well."

She stops to look up at the ceiling as if to allow the memories to come back easier. "Then, when we were at the prime of our teenage life, we confessed our feelings to each other and became boyfriend and girlfriend. Those were… happy times. No, any time I was with him was a happy time. I've never felt happy before I met him. He… brought out a side of me I never knew I had."

"Aww, that's so cute," commented Aerith with a smile. "And you've been together for so long now."

"Well," began Trang, turning her eyes down to the floor again. "Actually, he broke up with me about eight years ago. He told me that he felt that he was weak and that I deserved someone who was strong."

The young woman suddenly felt something wet on her hand and realizes that a tear has fallen from her eye. She blinks the welling tears away as she tries not to cry. Aerith makes a move to console her, but Trang motions to her that she was all right.

"It's all right," she assures the brunette. "We went back to being friends and still are. I think it's better that way. However, the silly guy still feels guilty about the whole thing, even after I told him I forgive him. Guys are weird."

"Yeah, guys _are_ weird, aren't they?" agrees Aerith as she looks at Zack, who cocks an eye back in response.

"Hey, I never broke up with you," he argues with a smirk.

_He's right. He never did break up with me. _I _was the one who decided that_, thought Aerith, a feeling of guilt washing over her.

**

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*** Taken from Ginger Ninja's Kingdom Hearts fanfiction, ****All The Roads We Have To Walk**.

**A/N:** Wow, I bet you didn't expect THAT, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU? Ha ha ha… :D Well, I hope you like it. See ya next month!


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N:** SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T FOUND A PARTICULAR SECRET CUTSCENE IN THE GAME YET!!! Ah, Aerith and Zack spend some quality time together. Some Advent Children references may be useful for the monster visualization.

_Ja ne_!

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**Chapter 11**

After the ride on the Gondola "Zackina," Aerith, and Trang proceed to head to the Battle Square, where the monster was supposed to be on display now. It was a horrendous yet curious sight as the monster tries to lunge at the female spectators, its big claws reaching out between the bars of the cage in an attempt to injure anyone close by. The creature was all black except for some grey-ness on the goblin-like head. It had a hauntingly human quality to it with its legs and face almost akin to that of a person. Despite its dull coloration, the monster stuck out quite well behind the cold grey bars of its prison.

"Wow, that's one ugly mother—"

Aerith gives Zack a good elbow in the chest before he was able to finish his exclamation, causing the young man to wince in reaction.

"Watch your language," she hisses, motioning to their young companion.

"Aw, c'mon, she's like 23," groans Zack. "I'm sure she's already heard a few 'bad words' by now."

The brunette simply rolls her eyes at the young man, who gives an amused grin in return. Meanwhile, Trang hasn't been able to take her eyes off of the creature since they've arrived at the Battle Square museum. The creature's eyes met hers as it continues to roar and struggle to escape from its metal cage. Almost instantly, the short-black-haired young woman recalls a dream she had a long time ago. In it, a young man with short silvery white hair was standing on a rocky cliff. Coming up behind him was several of the same monster she was looking at right now. They were like shadows, standing under the command of the young man with silvery white hair. The young man… His name was…

"Kadaj."

The name struck a chord in both Aerith and Zack as they turned to look at their mesmerized friend.

"That name… sounds familiar…" spoke up Zack, turning to the brunette. "Do you remember that name?"

"Kadaj…" repeats Aerith. "He was…"

"Sephiroth," exclaims Trang. She turns around to face her friends with a confused look in her eyes. "Sephiroth. Do you guys know Sephiroth?"

The pair stiffened at the sound of that name; the name of the man who threatened to destroy the world; the man who caused them much despair. That man…

"Sephiroth…" exclaims Zack quietly, slowly clenching his fists. "He… He used to be a good friend of mine. But, he changed."

"My friends and I fought against him years ago," adds Aerith. "He did some… pretty bad stuff. That's all I can say about him."

Zack crosses his arms awkwardly over his water-balloon chest. "What's with the sudden interest in Sephiroth anyways, Tracy?

"I… don't know," replies the young woman. "I…"

Just then, the women around them began yelling out in surprise as the creature suddenly began rampaging all over its cage, causing the metal structure to move around unstably. In unprovoked rage, it rips through the bars with never-before-seen strength and sets its sights on a target. It moved so fast that Trang could only watch in horror as the creature leaps toward her and bites down on her right shoulder as she turns around. Pain shockwaves through her body as the creature's closing jaws drew blood.

"AAAUUGGGHHHH!" she groans in pain as she punches strongly into the creature's skull with her free left fist.

"Hold on Tracy!" Zack cries out as he slides Buster Sword from his back and slams the blade down on the monster's body, being careful to avoid the young woman underneath.

With a loud shriek, the shadow creature releases its grip on Trang's shoulder and falls limp to the ground, the young woman's blood dripping from its teeth. Worry overtook Aerith's mind as she ran towards Trang and began performing Healing Wind on her.

"You're going to be allright," she assures Trang as the young woman groans weakly.

Meanwhile, a very muscular man wearing something akin to Speedos came running towards them with a handful of security guards in tow.

"What have you done to my magnificent monster?" the muscled man cries out.

"Excuse me, but your monster nearly killed my friend here," counters Zack angrily as he hefts Buster Sword onto his shoulder on its dull side.

The man gasps upon seeing the bloody young woman on the ground. "Oh my, I'm so terribly sorry about all of this. My name is Gio, the newest owner of the Golden Saucer. I will send my medical team here to fix your friend up immediately!"

Bringing his PHS up to his mustached mouth, Gio quickly summons his medical team, which arrives speedily to patch up Trang and carry her to the medical ward of the park.

* * *

Aerith and Zack waited in the waiting room as the medical team works on their friend. Zack had finally gotten back into his usual SOLDIER outfit and was more than relieved to resume his status as a man. However, Aerith had opted to keep the dress and accessories, a grim foreshadowing that Zack's cross-dressing days were definitely not over.

After a couple of hours of waiting, the lead doctor comes out to tell the pair that Trang would need to be transferred to the medical facility in Junon, where she would heal better with the more advanced medical technology there. Hearing that, Gio intervenes with a generous offer.

"Don't worry about the travel expenses," he assures the two. "I'm giving you an all-expense-paid trip to Junon as my apology for your injured friend. I thought the cage was strong enough to contain my monster but it's now obvious that it wasn't. I hope you'll forgive me and not press charges."

"My friend's still alive," spoke up Aerith. "That's all that matters."

With a solemn and sincere bow, Gio apologizes to them once again.

"So," began Zack curiously. "Who was it that you were going to sell that monster to anyhow?"

"I'm sorry, but that transaction is confidential," replies Gio.

"Really now?" exclaims the young man. Now he was more curious. "Well, I think it is in your _best_ interest to tell us who you were planning to sell such a dangerous monster to."

"And why would that be?" wonders the Golden Saucer owner.

With a frown, Zack whips out Buster Sword and points its sharp end right at Gio's face. "Because, sir, if that transaction had gone through, I believe a lot of these incidents will occur and you'll be the one to blame since you're the first to find this monster."

A sweat ran down the side of Gio's face as the muscled man stares nervously at the upset ex-SOLDIER. "I see what you mean. All right, I'll tell you. But you cannot tell anyone else."

"Try me," returns Zack, pulling Buster Sword away from the dark-haired man's face and resting it upon his shoulder.

"The person who came to me when I found that monster," began Gio. "Was none other than Russell Shinra."

"Russell Shinra?" repeated Aerith. "Is he related to Rufus Shinra by any chance?"

"Why yes, Russell is a directed descendant of Rufus Shinra," elaborates the dark-haired muscular man. "He's his grandson to be exact."

"Shin-Ra," Zack growls under his breath as images of the experiments he saw at the Nibelheim Mako reactor flash through his mind.

"Zack," Aerith lays her hand on his, causing the young man's glowing Mako eyes to meet her emerald ones. With a sigh, he calms down and puts Buster Sword away.

* * *

Zack and Aerith slept in the waiting room that night and were on their way with a still-sleeping Trang the next morning. As promised, Gio provides them with the Buggy which takes them to Costa del Sol where they were to be taken onto a ship. While the Buggy driver drove the big vehicle through the quicksand border of Corel and towards the town on a beach, Aerith gently strokes Trang's sleeping head which lay comfortably on her lap. The young woman's bandaged shoulder was well-hidden under her black tank top and shoulder-striped white hooded shirt-jacket.

Sitting across from the girls, Zack stares down at the floor of the Buggy where his Buster Sword lay. The whole vehicle was quiet, except for the soft roar of the Buggy's engine. After about an hour into the ride, the young man finally looks up at the brunette.

"Hey, Aerith."

The young woman looks up so that her eyes met his. "Hmm?"

"I… I was just wondering," began Zack, scratching the back of his spiked raven-black hair nervously as he searches to find the right words to express his feelings. "Is it really… over… between the two of us?"

Aerith didn't say a word as she turns her eyes back down to the sleeping being on her lap.

"I… really did love you, Aerith," the young man expresses slowly, trying hard to let his feelings be heard. "And I still do. Aerith… Since the day we met, all I ever thought about was you. At the end of every mission I get, I'd wonder when I would be able to see you again. When I got pulled out of Midgar, I made a promise to myself to see you every chance I get. I wasn't able to call you or send you any letters a lot because my work as a member of SOLDIER always gets in the way."

"Zack…"

"And then there were people who needed me," continued the ex-SOLDIER. "Like Cloud. Cloud especially, because he was like a little brother to me. He wanted so much to get into SOLDIER… I kept telling him to work hard and he'll get in… But he didn't get in. I felt I let him down. I let both of you guys down."

A heavy feeling weighed itself down on Aerith's heart as she listens on. When she met Cloud, she saw so much of Zack that she thought Cloud _was_ Zack. She never knew that Zack and Cloud were that close. Not until after she had died.

"And that day at Nibelheim," a heavy feeling pulls on Zack's heart as well as he began remembering that fateful day decades ago. "When Sephiroth went mad… Cloud, he… Everything happened so fast, I couldn't… I let everyone down."

Zack rolls his hands into tight fists and hangs his head as the memories came in painful droves. "Five years later, I helped Cloud escape from Hojo's laboratory in Nibelheim. It took us a while, but we managed to get to Junon allright. It was really hard with Shin-Ra chasing after us the whole way… And Cloud was so sick… I wanted to take him to Midgar, 'cause I knew you'd be there to help him… And 'cause I wanted to see you again… But before Cloud and I were able to reach the city, those Shin-Ra bastards… They killed me right in front of him… Those… bastards…"

Aerith looks up at the young man across from her, a surprised expression on her face with eyes welling up with tears. "Zack… I never…"

"I'm really sorry, Aerith," Zack grimaces as he fought back the tears and the frustration. "I'm so sorry. I let you down… I let Sephiroth down… I let Cloud down… I let Tifa down… I let everyone down… Some First-Class SOLDIER I am."

* * *

"I really wish we could be with them."

"Me too."

"I wish we could all go back. Cid, Yuffie, Barret, everyone."

"Mmm."

"We'd do lots of stuff. Like take Aerith on a ride in the Highwind. And you and Zack could go Chocobo-racing."

"Hmm, I don't think Zack's ever been on a Chocobo before."

"There's a first time for everything."

"Sure is, Tifa."

Alone in the whiteness of their surroundings, Cloud and Tifa sat discussing all the things they could do if they were all together in the world of the living again. It was hard to retain their individuality in the Lifestream, but they've managed for about eight decades now and still counting.

"I wonder how much has changed on the Planet," vociferates Tifa.

"A lot I bet," responded Cloud.

"Mmm, this place is boring," groans the brunette.

"I don't mind it," defended the blonde.

"You've been spending too much time in the Lifestream," asserts Tifa, getting up to her feet. "Both when you were alive and when you're dead."

"What can I say; the Lifestream loves me," chuckles Cloud.

"Only because you have a messed up mind," retorts Tifa playfully.

"Hey!" exclaims Cloud.

Both of them began laughing at their inevitable predicament. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, pitch-black darkness surrounds them and began inching towards them. Tifa gasps in surprise as Cloud leaps to his feet and stands back to back with his friend.

"What's going on?" wonders the brunette, falling into a martial arts attack stance.

"I don't know," replies Cloud, holding out his First Tsurugi. "But it sure doesn't look good."

The two of them felt completely helpless as they became engulfed into the darkness. Soon, neither of them could tell if their eyes were open or not.

"Cloud!"

"Tifa!"

**

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**A/N:** There I go again adding another subplot to this story. (shakes head) Man, how am I gonna work Russell Shinra into this mess? I was aiming for a good 25 chapters but at this rate, this story may go as high as 40. But I _will_ finish this story. I will. There will be delays and writer's block occasionally, but I WILL finish this story.

For those who recognize the famous line from Predator… go you! :D LOL. I love Predator.

Hope you've enjoyed this chapter! See ya next month!


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I think it's about time I explore what's going on back in Midgar. I think I devoted too many chapters to the adventures of Zack, Aerith, and Trang. ^^;

Sorry for the delay. Was busy as heck all last month so that's why this chapter's coming at you later than I intended.

_Ja ne_!

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**Chapter 12**

Aerith and Zack could feel the Buggy wheel its way into the cargo hold of the ship docked at Costa del Sol. Trang had awoken earlier in time for the three of them to catch some sun on the beach before continuing their journey to Junon. Once the Buggy was secured onto the floor, the ship was on its way. With sighs of relief, Zack, Aerith, and Trang clamber out of the Buggy along with the driver to explore the ship's deck.

"You sure you're allright, Tracy?" Aerith asks with concern.

"I'm fine, really," assures the short black-haired young woman with a meek smile. "I just have to be careful not to use my right arm too much."

"That's good to hear," responds the brunette, smiling back.

Zack was quiet for much of the trip after his conversation with Aerith in the buggy. He stood leaning on the railing solemnly as he stares out into the sea, the oceanic breeze fluttering his raven-black hair and the sun glinting off the edge of the Buster Sword hanging on his back. For a while the three of them merely stood gazing out at the calm-moving waters until the young man finally speaks up.

"I think I'm going to go check out the other parts of the ship," he declares before sauntering off on his own.

Aerith watches quietly as he walks off, unsure of what to think of her former boyfriend. Trang senses her anxiety and turns to the young woman.

"So," she began, her white hooded shirt-jacket fluttering in the wind. "What's going on between you two?"

"Hmm?" exclaims the female Cetra, obviously preoccupied in her own thoughts.

"Sorry, but, I sort of overheard you guys talking in the Buggy a while back," admits Trang apologetically. "What _did_ happen over 80 years ago between you guys?"

Aerith fell silent as she contemplates on the young woman's question. "A lot of things were going on back then. He and I were busy with our own lives. It's only natural that things eventually didn't work out between us."

Silence falls upon both young women until the voice of one shatters it.

"Is that your excuse for breaking up with him?" wonders Trang.

The brunette was struck and caught off guard all at once as the question hits her hard. A wave of emotions wash over her as memories of the times she spent with Zack came flooding back in droves. "Well, he was handsome and charming. It was only a matter of time before he would find another girl. I'm just a small part of his life, that's all. We only dated when he was stationed in Midgar and when he was sent elsewhere, I figured—"

"You weren't enough for him?" interrupts Trang. She turns to look into the water at their shadowy reflections. "You know that's not true, Aerith. Even though I don't know him all that much, I can see that Zack's not the type to go around gallivanting with every woman he finds. No, he's not like that. He chose you, Aerith. Of all the women on the entire Planet, he chose you out of every one of them. Doesn't that mean anything? Isn't that enough?"

Tears threaten to escape her eyes, but Aerith manages to blink them away. "Things can change, Tracy."

"You only came to like Cloud because he reminded you of Zack, didn't you?"

The Cetra was completely surprised by the young woman beside her. Trang continued to stare out into the ocean's depths with her layered ebony hair flowing in the wind as the tone of her voice suddenly changes from curious to deeply foreboding.

"Because deep down, you were still in love with Zack. You figured that if you could be with someone else, your feelings for him will disappear and the pain will stop. But even with Cloud, the pain didn't stop, did it? The more time you spent with Cloud, the more you remembered, and the more you hurt."

"How did you know about me and Cloud?" Aerith demands softly with eyes wide with shock.

At that moment, a major headache overtakes Trang's mind as she lifts her left hand to rub her temples. She groans in pain and nearly collapses as the pain worsens. Fortunately Aerith was close enough to catch the young woman, being careful not to hurt Trang's injured right shoulder.

"I don't know what came over me," answered the young woman with a groan. "It felt like something took over my mind there for a minute."

The Cetra suggests that they go down to the sleeping quarters before something worse happens. As Aerith leads Trang down the metal stairway leading from the deck to the rooms below, she couldn't help but look at her companion curiously. From the moment they met in the Lifestream, Aerith felt that there was more to this girl than she thought. Trang somehow knew things that she was not supposed to know. What more does this young woman hide?

* * *

Cloud awoke to find himself lying down on a wooden floor. With a groan, he grabs his head with his left hand to alleviate the throbbing headache pounding on his skull while his right arm lifts him up off the floor. He turns to his left to find Tifa lying unconscious beside him.

"Tifa!"

The blonde swordsman crawls over to the young woman and tries to shake her awake. "Tifa! Tifa!"

Tifa's peaceful face crumples into a frown as she groans and opens her eyes. She turns to find Cloud sitting beside her and sits herself up.

"What happened?" she wonders. "And where are we?"

"Looks like we're in Aerith's church," affirms Cloud as he looks around. "How did we get here?"

The wooden church was still standing, surprisingly, despite the wear and tear of time and termites. The "pool" of Aerith's healing water was still in its original place and the girl's beloved flowers had managed to survive, thriving on the far side of the pool's edge where part of the church's wall was completely gone and the sun shone brightly.

"Aerith's church hasn't changed much, has it?" asserts Tifa, getting up to her feet.

"Mmm," responds Cloud, getting up as well. "Let's go check out Midgar."

"Yeah," agrees Tifa.

Together, the two of them venture out into a new world.

* * *

_Blink, blink._

Silas could discern a figure through his shady sunglasses, but makes no motion to acknowledge the person staring at him.

_Blink, blink._

Though he could not explicitly hear the girl's eyes blinking at him, Silas could still sense the action with each occurrence.

_Blink, blink._

"May I help you?" the albino asks nonchalantly.

Aya continues to stare at the young man with eyes brimming with curiosity. "Why do you always wear your sunglasses?"

Silas turns his white head to peer at the young woman. Her short black hair gave the appearance of a boy, but many other features of her express her femininity enough to discern her definitive gender. At the very least, she looks like a normal human being; much more than he ever could with his ghostly pale complexion and piercing crimson eyes.

"People get scared of me when they see my eyes," replies the young man, turning away.

"We're not scared of you," asserts Aya, giving a warm smile. "In fact, we think you're pretty cool."

"Cool?" repeats Silas, his eyebrows raised in confusion. He looks down at his white hands and rolls them up into fists. "I'm not cool. There's nothing cool about me. What's so cool about being different from everyone? What's so cool about having people so afraid of you that they won't come near you? There's nothing cool about that. Nothing at all."

"Cheer up, Silas!" vociferates Zenith with a grin as he gives the albino's back a hefty slap. "We're not like all those people you've met before. We're different!"

"You can say we're a little more open than other people," adds Lacus, his hands shoved and content in his pockets.

"Yeah," pops in Roxy, standing akimbo with her finger-gloved hands at her waist. "I mean, we even befriended Nanaki and that's as weird as things can get!"

"Hey!" protests the red-furred mammalian. "I take offense at that."

"Just messin', Nanaki," assures the dark brown-haired young woman with a chuckle.

Just then, Nova comes stomping down the stairs in his bipedal form, a discontented look on his iguana-like face.

"Is Logan still asleep?" wonders Roxy.

"Mmm," grunts the reptilian. "I fought the temptation to beat him in his sleep. That boy is stubborn."

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather slap him around while he's awake," speaks up Lacus. "There's no fun to it if he's asleep."

"Here, here," agrees Zenith with a grin.

"You guys are so mean," exclaims Aya with a sour look on her face. "Logan hasn't had any good sleep since Tracy disappeared. He's just grumpy, that's all."

"We're just playing around, Aya," assures her boyfriend, rustling his navy-blue spiked hair.

The next moment, Sigurd enters the bar followed by Cait Sith and Vincent. The blonde-haired young man stares at his friends with a dirty shirt and a smug grin on his face.

"What're you all doing now?" he wonders. "Ya kind of look bored standin' around here."

"Hmm," agrees Cait Sith. "Isn't there anything entertaining to do around here? Might as well do something to kill time while we wait for Tracy."

"Oh yeah, we can give Silas a tour of New Midgar," exclaims Aya, putting a finger to her lips in thought.

"Yeah!" agrees Roxy, a grin spreading on her face. "It'll be fun! We can take Silas to Sector 8 and go exploring!"

"Sector 8?" reiterates Silas with an eyebrow raised high.

"You'll like it," assures Aya with a wink and a smile. "It's got loads of junk from the old Midgar."

"Well, in that case," begins Sigurd, feeling a need to salvage more Midgar junk. "Everyone to the Desert Rose!"

"Desert Rose?" exclaims Silas.

"It's the name of the first truck Sigurd ever fixed," explains Lacus. Then in a whisper, he adds: "It's his pride and joy."

"Won't you join us, guys?" asks Roxy, looking towards Vincent, Nanaki, and Cait Sith.

"No thanks," replies Vincent, remembering the things that happened there in the past. "I was never too fond of old Migar."

"Same here," adds Nanaki with a smirk, remembering his time in the Shinra laboratory there.

"I don't think I want to go back to where I was discovered," exclaims Cait Sith, a reasonable explanation since he was pretty much an ancient artifact from old Midgar.

"I'll be staying here as well," notes Nova with a grimace. "I'm not much for urban jungles."

"You guys are no fun at all," vociferates Roxy as she takes Silas by the hand and heads out the door with the rest of the group following behind her.

"Hey wait!" Silas blurts out as he was dragged along by the burly girl. "I can't stay out in the sun too long. My condition…"

Before the albino could say another word, Lacus tosses the young man a tube of sunblock. Silas catches it with his free hand and looks up at the young man whose jade-colored hair laze off his head.

"Don't worry about it man," assures Lacus. "We've got ya covered."

Silas didn't know what to say for the kind gesture. No one has ever given him anything before in his life. A tiny smile breaks through his stoney face as he loads onto the truck's pick-up backside and sits down with his friends.

_Friends_, thought the albino young man. _So this is what it feels to have friends._

* * *

"Do you think Jenova's planning to summon Meteor again?"

Nova looks to the three beings before him for an answer but all he got was silence.

"That's a good possibility," spoke up Nanaki. "However, we can't be sure of what Jenova's motives are. We don't have any information on that being at all."

"Since it did help Sephiroth out years ago, we can assume it has the same objectives as him," adds Vincent. "Perhaps instead of empowering Sephiroth, it plans to empower itself."

"But that's still all theory," notes Cait Sith. "We still can't be definitively sure."

"If only we knew more about Jenova itself," Nanaki thinks out loud. "Much of what we know about it is completely shrouded in uncertainty."

"Hmm," sighs Nova. "So we're fighting this thing blindly, aren't we?"

"That would seem to be the case," admits the red-furred creature. "Although, I'm still wondering who Aerith and Tracy are traveling with."

"The mysterious young man?" wonders Cait Sith. "Sierra _did_ mention that he wore the same SOLDIER uniform that Cloud once did. Do you think he's someone Cloud knows?"

"Could it be…" Vincent thinks to himself, recalling a flashback of Nibelheim's past that Sephiroth had shown him, Cloud, and Tifa years ago. "The young man in the flashback? But Cloud didn't remember that guy at all. Maybe it's someone only Aerith knows?"

Just then, two pairs of footsteps cause the group to turn to Seventh Heaven's saloon-style doors. Nanaki, Cait Sith, and Vincent's eyes all went wide as two very familiar faces step foot into the bar. The young man with blonde spiked hair and the young woman with sleek long brown hair stare back the same way as shocking quiet fills the air, only to be interrupted by Nova's deep voice.

"Can we help you?" asks the reptilian.

"I don't believe it," exclaims Nanaki, taking a step forward with wide eyes. "Am… am I dreaming? Is it really…?"

Cloud gives a meek smile as Tifa steps toward their familiar friends.

"Hey guys," she greets them with a meek smile of her own. "Long time no see."

**

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**A/N:** Is this story moving too fast? Just wondering. ^^;


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Ah, I just adore friendly reunions. ^^

_Ja ne_!

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**Chapter 13**

"So that young man is an old friend of yours?" reiterates Vincent after he, Nanaki, Cait Sith, and Nova hears of Cloud and Tifa's story.

"Yeah," replies Cloud. "His name's Zack. He and Aerith were supposed to bring that girl back here, but I guess they must've been transported elsewhere by the Lifestream."

"Last we heard, they were spotted at Rocket Town," spoke up Cait Sith.

"I'm sure they're allright," Tifa voices. She turns to look up at the towering reptilian standing nearby. "So you've been around as long as Red XIII has? How come we've never seen you guys before?"

"My species resides in the Ancient Forest," answers Nova. "You've probably seen us but don't realize it."

"I see," replies Tifa. "You guys are very good at hiding."

"I prefer to call it being one with nature," responds Nova, feeling somewhat irked that his species is seen as doing something as cowardly as hiding.

Silence shrouds the group until Vincent breaks it up with an even more important matter.

"Cloud," he begins. "I can see why Zack and Aerith were brought back to life. What bothers me is why you and Tifa are back as well."

"That's what we're trying to figure out," answers the blonde, who felt just as confused as the monster-transforming man. "One minute Tifa and I were among the dead in the Lifestream, and the next here we are."

"There must be some sort of instability in the natural order of the Planet," reasons Nanaki. "That must be why you guys are here."

"It must be Jenova's doing," suggests Cait Sith.

"Jenova?" repeats Cloud ominously. "That _thing_ is still around?"

"Unfortunately," replies Vincent. "But we have no idea why it's beginning to attack after laying dormant all these years. We can assume that it's been building up its strength during that time, but we don't know for what or why."

"Is it trying to resurrect Sephiroth again?" wonders Tifa.

"I don't think so," answers Cait Sith. "Besides, I think it would be kind of hard to resurrect someone who's already been reincarnated."

"What?" exclaims Cloud in surprise. "Sephiroth's been reincarnated?"

"Don't worry," assures Vincent, crossing his arms. "I've already met the young man. All he has are Sephiroth's memories and his Masamune; nothing else. If anything, he's less than happy to know that he is the reincarnation of a powerful madman."

"But even so, Jenova can still turn him into Sephiroth, right?" Tifa voices her concerns.

"Only if Silas gets in contact with Jenova's cells," reassures Nanaki. "But that's unlikely since any trace of Jenova has all disappeared."

"That still doesn't make me feel better knowing that there's still a possibility," replies Tifa, crossing her arms.

"You humans really don't have faith in one another, do you?" speaks up Nova as he looks down at the humans before him. "No wonder you're so easily deceitful."

"There'll be none of that Nova," spat Nanaki, sensing potential trouble. "You don't understand what we've been through. You don't know why we're so worried about Sephiroth's return."

"I may not have a clue as to why you all are so afraid of this Sephiroth guy, but I sure as hell know when to move on and not stay in the past," responds the bipedal reptilian. "Things change with time, you know."

With that, Nova morphs into his iguana form and quickly scurries out of the bar. Cloud watches as the lizard disappears out the door and turns to Nanaki. "What was that all about?"

"It's a long story," sighs the red-furred creature.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at Sector 8, Zenith was showing Silas the thrillingly fun "perks" of rubble surfing as the albino looks on. With a painful grimace on his face he watches as the spiked blue-haired young man clambers up the top of a tall pile of Shin-Ra building rubble, takes a thick metal sheet and stands on it, then slide crazily down the rugged pile of concrete, dodging pieces of metal piping and framework as he finishes by crashing into a big chunk of concrete at the bottom.

"I'm okay!" affirms Zenith, taking a wobbly step from behind the concrete chunk and thrusting a thumb's-up into the air.

"_Aiyah_!" exclaims Aya as she ran up to her boyfriend. "This guy! You're going to get yourself killed one of these days!"

Zenith smiles and lets out a chuckle. "I'm fine, Aya. Really!" He turns to hand the now bent-up metal sheet to Silas. "Wanna give it a try?"

"Uh, no thanks," the albino smirks as he puts his hands into the pockets of his coat. "I'm rather fond of my bones being in one piece."

"Your loss," scoffs Zenith.

As the young man ascends the pile of rubble once again, Silas stares off into the distance, towards a tall newly-built tower of a building centered in the middle of New Midgar. During the ride over to Sector 8, Roxy had explained to him that the tower building is the central headquarters of the World Restoration Organization, replacing what used to be the Shin-Ra headquarters. As he stares at the WRO building, his reincarnated memories recalls a time when Midgar was much different than it was now; a time when the poor lived in the slums and the upper classes lived upon what were known as plates high above the slums; a time when Shin-Ra pretty much ruled the world.

And then there was the Shin-Ra's elite military unit known as SOLDIER. That's what Silas was in, or rather, the man known as Sephiroth was in. Sephiroth, the former general who went mad and almost destroyed the planet; the man whose memories were embedded into Silas' mind and whose sword is now sheathed by his side; the man whose very soul may now lie dormant within him, waiting to be awakened by the bidding of the mysterious Jenova.

At the moment, Silas fears Sephiroth's return, knowing very well that the former general's return meant the end of his own existence. The albino did not want that, not since he knows that he is among friends, friends that he now would risk his life to protect.

_Protect_, thought Silas. _I have something, no, friends that I can protect_.

He looks over to where Zenith was now crashing into the same big chunk of concrete as he did before once again. This time, the spunky Aya makes no hesitation to take away the young man's metal sheet and chastise him for his recklessness. Silas smiles at the scene, the lonely feeling in his heart lifted and gone. He turns to see Roxy helping Sigurd pick through metal junk to find the best scraps which Sigurd would turn into something functional. Roxy notices Silas and waves him over.

"How ya feelin' there?" wonders Sigurd as the albino young man saunters over.

"Allright, I guess," replies Silas nonchalantly. "Is Zenith always like that?"

The three of them turn to see the blue-spikey-haired young man try to crack a chunk of concrete with his Prism Staff, only to have it ping off the surface of the chunk and bounce back speedily onto his head, knocking him back. Near him Aya is laughing her little head off as Zenith tries to stay standing in a daze.

Roxy gives a little chuckle. "Yeah, pretty much."

After watching the humorous theatrics, Silas and Roxy's eyes met for a brief moment. Sigurd watches with a sly smirk, noticing too well that something was going on between the two of them. Without warning, he turns around and heads for another metal pile all while humming _Love Is in the Air_ as he went. Roxy hears the quiet music and blushes slightly as she held onto a piece of machinery tightly. Silas, however, is perplexed by the unfamiliar gestures and turns away nervously, unsure of what to do in such a foreign situation.

"Um, I… I'm going to go help out Sig with this stuff," stutters Roxy, following after the young man with the machinery in hand.

* * *

The ship pulls into the Junon port and slowly comes to a gentle stop. With a soft roar, the Buggy emerges from within the cargo hold and finishes the journey off at the Junon hospital where Trang Ly is transported by the medical team to a prepared hospital room. After making sure the injured young woman is comfortable, the doctors firmly advise her to get some rest in order to make a full recovery. With a nod, Trang watches as the medical team march out the door, leaving Aerith and Zack alone with her.

"There's no need for you guys to stay here and watch me nap," she tells the two. "Go off and explore Junon. See what's changed and what hasn't."

"That wouldn't be fair to you," argues Aerith. "All cooped up in this room while Zack and I go out."

"It's allright, Aerith," assures Trang. "I've been here plenty of times. Besides, you guys should make the most of your second chance before you return to the Lifestream, right?"

"Well, if it's okay with you, I think I'm going to hang around here," affirms the brunette. "I don't feel good leaving you all alone."

"Fine," sighs Trang. She turns to look over at Zack from her sick bed. "What about you, Zack? I heard that the Shin-Ra military dorms were in Junon. Maybe you'll find your old barracks."

"Yeah, I guess I'll go check them out," agrees the young man, turning to walk out the door.

After he left, the room became filled with an uncertain silence.

"So, uh, want to play a card game?" wonders Trang, whipping out some playing cards.

* * *

As the former SOLDIER saunters down along the Junon avenue where the barracks-turned-apartments and shops lined the street, he couldn't help but recall his life as a member of the Shin-Ra military. Looking back on it now brought plenty of unpleasant memories for Zack as he remembers his painful past.

"Well, at least I'm free," he notes as he tries to conjure up a smile.

The young man could feel eyes peering at him and his unique visage with curiosity. Zack figures not very many people here in this day and age would recognize the once famous SOLDIER uniform which invoked more fear than respect.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zack's Mako-induced sharp vision could discern a couple of shady characters disappearing into a dark alley. Curiosity strikes him hard as he follows them stealthily through the darkness, keeping his eyes on the targets like a shadow. Hearing the words "Russell Shinra" pass in their conversations causes Zack to be even more motivated to follow them closely. A few minutes of following passes and his targets eventually come upon a metal sliding-door with a numeric panel display on the right side. Zack watches carefully, making sure to note what buttons to press. However, his efforts were to be in vain, as the door opens widely, allowing him to slip unnoticeably behind the two men.

Once inside, chill of adrenaline rushes through Zack's veins as he tries to locate where this Russell Shinra could be. Maybe then he might get some answers as to what is or has been going on. As he surveys the long hallways that seemingly lead on forever, he manages to come across a couple of elevators. He comes up to one elevator in time for it to ding open and out step an employee. Moving quickly he strikes the man behind the head, successfully turning him unconscious and allowing the young man access to the victim's keycard.

With keycard in hand, Zack steps into the elevator and presses the button for the highest floor. "Bad guys always like the highest floor."

The elevator doors slide open with a confident _ding_ into a large unfurnished office room. A wooden door lay on each side of the room, the walls lined with Shin-Ra buildings, vehicles, and personnel. Two potted plants decorated the sides of the room, adding a tinge of color to a sterile grayish-white room.

Almost as soon as Zack steps foot onto the marble floor, he feels the business end of a gun being thrusted into the back of his head. Nervously, he raises his arms in response, making no move to turn his head if he was not to have his skull blown clean off his body.

"Russell Shinra?" he asks with his arms still up.

"Who wants to know?" was the cold reply.

_How am I supposed to answer that?_ wonders Zack. _Oh, hi, I'm a First-Class SOLDIER who was brought back from the dead to bring a girl home?_

Before the spikey-blue-haired young man could say a word, another voice breaks through the eerie silence.

"Put it down, Russell. I don't think he's here to kill anyone."

Zack could hear the sound of whirring wheels as the feeling of a gun barrel on his head disappears. Out of the right door came a man in a wheelchair. Zack's eyes went wide as soon as he recognized the disabled stranger.

"No way."

**

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**A/N:** Think this'll be the last update for now since I'm about to start school again. I'll try to keep it updated from time to time, but don't expect regular updates.


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Ha ha ha ha, oh the shock of familiar faces. ^_^

_Ja ne_!

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**Chapter 14**

"You're… you're Rufus Shinra!" exclaims Zack in surprise.

"Yes, it would seem so," replies Rufus incredulously in response. He shifts his age-old body to a more comfortable position in his wheelchair.

Zack couldn't believe that he was standing in front of the former vice president of Shin-Ra Inc. The years had done quite a number on Rufus, his previously platinum blonde hair worn away to a pale white upon the old man's head. He still dons his usual white suit, but the white cloth he used to conceal his face and the container that held Jenova's head is now used to protect his feeble body from dramatically different temperatures. Surprisingly, the man looked good for his age, his face and hands displaying fewer wrinkles and evidence of age than a normal old man, most likely due to thousands of gil of anti-aging agents and treatments. The man still had dignity and pride in his looks, even after all these years.

Rufus looks Zack over and raises an eyebrow in curiosity. "That uniform you wear… You're not of this… time period… are you?"

The ex-SOLDIER gulps in response as he tries to think of a way to explain his existence. Meanwhile, Russell steps out from behind him and takes a place next to Rufus' wheelchair. The young man looks to be in his late teen years, sporting a white buttoned collar t-shirt and matching dress pants and shoes. In his right hand he held a semi-automatic handgun, most likely a hand-me-down from his relation.

Russell's pale-emerald eyes peer coldly at Zack through disheveled blonde bangs as his right hand grips the gun handle firmly. "What do you mean by that, sir?"

_Sir?_ thought Zack. _Apparently, family sentiments don't run in the Shinra family._

"That uniform you wear is the standard uniform for members of the elite Shin-Ra military unit known as SOLDIER," continues Rufus. "If I recall correctly, that unit disbanded along with Shin-Ra's fall about eighty years ago. There's no way such a uniform can remain in such good condition after all these years and, even if so, why would someone wear one in this day and age?"

Words were unable to pass from Zack's lips.

"Which brings me to my next theory," adds the old man. "That you must've been a former SOLDIER resurrected through the power of a Phoenix Down. However, a Phoenix Down can only work in a certain time lapse after a person has passed on. One must use it before the body of the deceased begins decomposing or else the item is useless. If that were to be the case, you'd be about as old as I am or older."

A sweat runs down the side of Zack's head as his right hand tenses up in an urge to draw out his Buster Sword.

"So then," begins Rufus. "What _are_ you? And what are you doing here?"

A moment passes before Zack swiftly whips out Buster Sword. At the same time, Russell moves from Rufus' side and takes a stand between the old man and the muscular warrior with his handgun drawn and aimed towards the ex-SOLDIER. For a few minutes Zack and Russell glare at each other, their weapons aimed for the other's face. Rufus did not flinch an inch, but raises his eyebrow in curiosity once again.

"I'm a First Class SOLDIER," declares Zack firmly. "That's all you need to know."

"Whether you are lying or not, my other question still stands," asserts Rufus. "My boy can do many things as well as a SOLDIER can so I would highly advise that you answer it."

"Only if you're willing to answer some questions of my own," responds Zack with his Buster Sword still up.

"Agreed," replies Rufus. "Stand down, Russell."

Zack could see that the young man was very loyal to his relation as the boy lowers his gun and he feels comfortable enough to lower his Buster Sword as well.

"Well, now that we've achieved a level of understanding," begins Rufus. "What questions do you need answered?"

"The monster that was held at the Golden Saucer," affirms Zack. "Why was it held under your grandson's name?"

"Quite simply, I am but an old man now," answers Rufus. "No one is interested in helping out the former president of the corporation that's caused so much turmoil. Besides, Russell is of age and old enough to begin taking over my company."

"Company?" exclaims Zack, confusion running through his head. "I thought Shin-Ra Inc. died out years ago."

"I've managed to revive it somewhat, but it's strictly an electric power company now," replies Rufus, interlocking his fingers. "The WRO has made sure to keep it that way."

"I see, but," responds Zack. "Leaving a teenager in charge of a big company is kind of reckless in my eyes."

"Teenager?" exclaims Rufus. "You're mistaken. Russell is about to turn 25 next month."

"What?" Zack vociferates incredulously. "You mean to tell me that _that_ kid is in his twenties?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's very much true," asserts Rufus. "Russell's body has a… condition, in which it doesn't mature as fast as his mind does."

"Okay…" responds Zack, scratching his head skeptically. "So, what were you planning to do with that monster?"

"Well, there's no point in telling you that now that I no longer have a monster to expect," answers Rufus with an upset look in his eyes. Zack looked confused until the old man gives his explanation. "I received a call from Gio informing me about the new status of my 'package.' I suspect you had something to do with its recent demise?"

"It attacked a friend of mine; I had no choice," replies Zack nonchalantly. "Now tell me what you were planning to do with it."

Rufus unlocks his hands and places them calmly on the armrests of his wheelchair as he glares at the ex-SOLDIER. "Research."

"That's a load of bull," spat Zack. "You were planning on doing some sort of experiment on it, weren't you? Probably create a whole army of super-soldiers to reclaim Shin-Ra's former glory."

"You've got it all wrong," counters Rufus. "Lately, there's been an outbreak of a new strain of Geostigma that can't be cured by that Ancient's holy water. Some of its victims have turned into monsters and forced to be slain. That monster you killed just happens to be one of those victims. I had hoped to dissect the creature in order to find a new cure for the new disease."

"Sorry, but I have trouble trusting anyone who has the Shinra name in their blood," responds Zack. "Whether you're telling the truth or not, the fact still stands that your family is not a very trustworthy group of people."

"I don't care if you trust me or not, what I say is the truth," argues Rufus strongly. "My grandson is one of the more recent victims of this outbreak and I will stop at nothing to heal him."

Zack glares at the two men in front of him, unsure of what to make of the situation. If what Rufus tells him is true, then there's a great possibility that Trang may be inflicted with the disease since she was bitten by the creature. He hopes that Aerith would be able to help the girl, but if not, Trang's going to be in some serious trouble.

Flipping his sword around, Zack completely withdraws his Buster Sword and turns toward the elevator. Before he could press the down button, Rufus' voice sounds out once more.

"If you ever meet a man by the name of Cloud Strife, give him my regards."

Zack's finger makes contact with the button and in a few seconds the elevator door slides open. He steps inside the steel interior and takes one last look at the Shinras before making his descent. As the elevator hums its way downward, Zack stares at his reflection in the metal.

_How does he know Cloud?_ the ex-SOLDIER wonders silently.

* * *

Aerith watches as Trang falls asleep with a card in hand. She had played many card games with the ebony-haired girl only to watch her fall asleep on her seventh game of solitaire. With a smile, Aerith walks over to Trang's hospital bed and gently picks up the cards, placing them neatly on top of each other until she had collected the entire deck into her hand.

After putting the deck into its box, Aerith gazes out of the hospital room window which overlooks the Junon harbor. The sight of the clear crystal-blue waters was something to see, since the last time the Cetra was here, Shin-Ra's technology polluted the water so badly it looked like murky mud.

"Go on, get out of here."

Aerith's heart nearly leapt out of her ribcage upon being surprised so unexpectedly. She turns around to see Trang wide awake in her bed.

"Tracy," exclaims the brunette. "I thought…"

"C'mon, don't stay here on my account," argues Trang with a smirk. "Go on and get out of here. I don't feel good knowing you're missing out on your second chance."

"Are you sure you'll be allright?" asks Aerith.

"I'm just going to take a nap, that's all," assures the young woman. "I'm definitely not going anywhere. Don't worry about me."

"Well, allright then," exclaims Aerith with a smile of her own. She walks out the door, but pokes her head back in. "I'll be back later."

"Get out of here!" chuckles Trang.

Aerith makes her way out of the hospital and into the street of Junon. Enjoying the afternoon oceanic view and passing by the various shops brought back memories of her travels with Cloud and the others as they chase after Sephiroth all those years ago. She was kind of glad yet sad by the lack of the huge airship Highwind above in the air ports. She still wanted to be able to go on the airship, yet at the same time she wanted to enjoy the experience with her friends. Unfortunately, that is not an option.

With a heavy heart, Aerith strolls along the Junon street in search of anything that would perk up her mood. Instead she ends up underneath a bridge-like structure that diverges into a side road leading downward towards who-knows-where. Well, not for long since Aerith manages to find a sign nearby pointing down the perpendicular street.

"Underwater laboratory; submarine port," she reads out loud.

Curiosity strikes as the brunette makes her way down the road towards whatever the sign claims to be located at the end. Halfway down the dark and dimly lit tunnel road, Aerith could sense herself being followed as the hair on the back of her neck stood up on end.

_Where is the eye?_

The young woman whips her body around to find not a single soul besides her. "Who's there?"

_The eye… Does she have her eye?_

"What?" exclaims Aerith, unsure of what to make of the question. "What are you talking about? What do you want?"

_The eye…Where is the eye?_

Suddenly, shadows began creeping towards here, slowly and steadily. Sensing the numerous evil presences, Aerith draws out her Princess Guard and stands ready to fight if needed.

_Give us the eye!_

Bright yellow eyes shine out through the dark forms as the shadows began taking shape, emerging from the walls and the street. Aerith grips her metal staff tightly, unafraid of what's to come. Without warning, the shadow creatures came at her at full force, leaping and snarling. Feet planted firmly on the ground, Aerith unleashes her Sealing Evil spell, stopping the strange monsters in their path and enchanting the Silence status on them.

For a few minutes Aerith just stood there, staring at the many pairs of yellow eyes glaring at her, the creatures' bodies frozen in flight all around her. She knows her spell won't last for long and her strength alone won't be enough to take out the monsters. If only Zack was here to help her out…

_Zack…_ she thought silently.

All of a sudden, the monsters began receding back into the walls and street. Aerith could hear their murmurs as they disappeared.

_She is not the eye... The eye is not with her…Seek out the eye…_

Almost as fast as they appeared, the shadowy figures disappear from where they came, leaving Aerith standing all alone again. Unsure of what to make of what had happened, Aerith holds on tightly to Princess Guard as she makes her way out of the tunnel road.

"The eye?" she repeats to herself. "What is this eye they're looking for? It can't be me or Zack. It must be..."

With eyes opened wide Aerith begins running at full speed out of the tunnel road, only to accidentally run into a passerby, knocking him and herself hard onto the ground.

"Hey!"

Rubbing her now injured posterior, Aerith groans in pain as she looks up to find a tall, muscular, dark-skinned man with a bald head and now broken sunglasses towering over her with a very unhappy look on his face.

"Where's the fire, yo?" he exclaims as he rubs his head and the remainder of his dark sunglasses falls off his face.

"Oh my goodness, I'm terribly sorry!" Aerith apologizes nervously as she gets up to her feet. "I wasn't looking where I was going and I was in a hurry and I'm very, very sorry!"

"It's allright, don't worry too much about it," assures the dark-skinned man. He looks down at what was left of his sunglasses and gives a sigh. "What a waste of some damn good sunglasses."

"I'm SO sorry," Aerith apologizes once again. "I didn't mean to, really!"

"Like I said, it's okay, yo," chuckles the man. Clad in a pair of green camouflage pants and a black tank top, he bends over to pick up the Princess Guard. "Well, at least one thing here is still in one piece."

"Thank you, sir. Again I'm really so—"

Aerith stops in mid-sentence as she could not help but stare at the man's right arm. It was still human in form, but material-wise it was entirely consistent of metal parts that whirred with each movement of his hand, elbow, and fingers.

"Fascinating, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare," the brunette apologizes yet again as she looks up to see that the man's left eye was made up of metal and whirs as well. "That was so rude of me."

"Nah," assures the man. "At least you're not like most people who would just get freaked out and run away screamin'."

"That must've been terrible for you," comments Aerith.

"Well, people aren't used to seeing things such as myself," explains the man. "You can't really blame them."

"May I ask what happened to make you like this?" wonders the brunette.

"Just a little freak accident a few years ago," answers the man. "Lost my right arm and both my left eye and leg." He taps his left pant leg to show that it's metal from the sound. "Full prosthetics on all three of 'em. Took a while to get used to though."

Completely forgetting what she was going to do, Aerith did nothing but look at the man and smile. "You know, you remind me of a very good friend of mine. Well, minus the sporadic cursing."

"Heh heh," chuckles the man. "I don't know whether to feel flattered or insulted."

"Oh my, we were having such a nice time talking that we've forgotten all about introductions," laughs Aerith. "My name's Aerith Gainsborough."

She holds out her hand and the man shakes it with his prosthetic arm. "Nice to meet you, Aerith. My name's…"

Before the man could finish his introduction, a rough earthquake interrupts them and sends them falling down again.

"This ain't good," exclaims the man.

"Oh no, Tracy!" exclaims the Cetra, who got up quickly and began running towards the hospital.

"Wait, Aerith! It's gettin' dangerous 'round there!" the man shouts after her as he follows behind.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zack feels the quake just as he leaves the hidden headquarters of the new Shin-Ra Inc. He leans onto a wall for stable support as he tries to maintain his footing. With a grunt, he pushes off the wall and heads into the street, running in the direction of the hospital.

"Aerith! Tracy!" he yells out as he ran, his heart beating a million miles per hour

* * *

Inside the hospital, the staff is trying to keep things from falling from shelves and assuring patients that everything will be all right. While people were running around in a panic, unsuspecting shadows began gliding towards a particular room in search of a particular patient. Trang was fast asleep in her bed, unaware of the perilous swaying occurring all around her and the incoming danger lurking towards her.

Once the shadows were in her room the mysterious creatures began taking form, their glowing yellow eyes peering eagerly at her. Now in full corporeal form, the shadow creatures step slowly towards her, their silent footsteps never failing to touch the ground even when the floor was shaking from the quake.

Just as the creatures came close upon Trang suddenly sat up with her head hanging tiredly. The creatures notice that the girl's eyes were closed tight, indicating that she was sleepwalking. In a state of complete involuntary control, Trang leaps out of her bed and grabs her Murasame which lay on a table near her. She unsheathes the mighty blade and skillfully makes mincemeat of the shadow creatures with both eyes shut asleep. Like poetry in motion, she lays waste to the monsters, each movement of the blade meeting with a creature and turning it into shadow dust. With the last of the shadow creatures dispatched, Trang sheathes her sword and falls back on the bed sleeping.

Ignoring the man's cries to turn back, Aerith runs further and further into the hospital towards Trang's room. She manages to reach it, but stops when she enters upon seeing the disheveled appearance of her young friend.

_Why is she holding her sword?_ she wonders. _I don't remember leaving her like that._

Telling herself to act now and ask questions later, Aerith rushes to Trang and tries to wake the girl up to no avail. The poor thing was dead asleep.

"How could you be sleeping through all this?" exclaims the brunette as she tries instead to carry the young woman.

Just then, she feels herself being lifted up with strong hands and tucked under tough arms. Surprised, Aerith looks up to see the man she'd just met carry both girls under each of his arms.

"This ain't no time to be playin' around!" he exclaims as he carries both of them out of the shaking room.

As they race down the long hallway towards the exit, things began cracking around them. Before they could reach the exit, slabs of concrete came crashing down from the ceiling, blocking their means of escape.

"Oh no!" exclaims Aerith.

"Dun worry about it!" assures the man.

The Cetra looks up to see a small, gatling gun come out of the man's prosthetic shoulder. Using his mechanical left eye as a laser beam, he hones his gun in on a specific spot and blasts away with full automatic gun power. The blockage was no more and the man runs through with both girls secured under his arms.

* * *

Just arriving outside the hospital, Zack could do nothing but stare with wide eyes as one corner of the embedded building came crashing down.

"AERITH! TRACY!" he calls out worriedly. He could feel his heart drop dramatically at the possibility of losing the two women.

He runs towards the hospital but stops at the sound of automatic gunfire. Confused, he wonders what was going on until a tall burly dark-skinned man came rushing out of the building with two persons under his arms. Two _very_ familiar persons.

"Aerith!" he exclaims as relief washed over him. "Tracy!"

The man comes up to him panting and with his mini-gatling gun still exposed.

"Lookin' for these two?" he asks tiredly.

The man releases Aerith from his grip but still holds onto Trang. Breathing a big sigh of relief, Zack takes Aerith into his arms with a big hug.

"I'm so glad you're allright," he says quietly. "I thought I'd lost you."

Aerith says nothing as she closes her eyes and relaxes in the young man's embrace.

"Uh, not to interrupt or anything, but we'd better get to a safe place," suggests the dark-skinned man.

"Right," agrees Zack, turning to the man. "And you are…"

"Sorry, never got the chance for a proper introduction," apologizes the man. "The name's Gunner, but you can call me Gun for short."

"Gunner, huh?" repeats Zack. He points to the automatic weapon on the man's shoulder. "I'm guessing you got that name for…"

"Actually, my parents gave me that name long before I got this," admits the dark-skinned man. "Guess you can say I lived up to my name."

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion up north. Zack, Aerith, and Gunner all watched as a giant plume of smoke comes rising out of the Northern Crater. Another round of shaking later, a loud screeching resonates within the crater. In a burst of spherical fire, a massive dragon explodes from the crater's mouth and shoots straight into the sky with full fury. The three of them could do nothing but watch as the new Bahamut spreads its huge wings and takes flight into the clear blue sky.

Groaning from the loud sound, Trang blinks herself awake to find herself in the arm of an unfamiliar stranger.

"Who are you?" she asks calmly as she looks up at Gunner. She then turns to look in the direction everyone was looking and opens her eyes wide in surprise. "Whoa. What's smokin'?"

* * *

**A/N:** And there you have it; another character to add to the mix. (As if there weren't enough already… ) This has been so far the longest chapter I've written for this story so far so I hope it's brought enough to keep you satisfied until my next update. (Which will be who knows how long until then.)


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Yes, I know it's been 4 years since I last updated this story. You can thank college and Kingdom Hearts for that.

Now I'm back to this story, but I won't be updating it as regularly as before. I've been yearning to continue this story for many years and now that I've finished college and played Crisis Core, I can continue now. That said, I might use some stuff from Crisis Core here, but for the most part I'm still basing it entirely on the original Final Fantasy VII storyline, Zack stuff including.

Since it's been a while since I updated, maybe it's a good time to start from the first chapter (prologue) to get yourself reacquainted with this relic.

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**Chapter 15**

Five pairs of eyes were on each other as the earth-quaking came to an ominously quiet end in the bar. Cait Sith was the first to speak, asking the ever-so obvious question that was currently on everyone's minds.

"What… was that?"

"I'm really not too eager to find out," voices Nanaki worriedly.

"Where are the kids?" Vincent wonders with a concerned look on his face.

"Kids?" exclaims Cloud curiously.

"Didn't they say they were going to hang out in Sector 8?" responds Cait Sith.

"Sector 8?" repeated Tifa, who was just as confused as Cloud was.

Nanaki nods with affirmation. "I'm not saying that they can't take care of themselves, but I would feel better knowing that they're all in one piece."

"Let's head on over there now," suggests Vincent, walking towards the door. "And hope that Sephiroth is not among them."

In the blink of an eye, Nanaki, Vincent, and Cait Sith were all out the door. Cloud and Tifa simply look to one another, shrug, and follow their friends.

* * *

The eerie silence that suddenly filled the air struck the young people with nervous yet curious intensity as they look at one another to affirm that what they've felt was as real as they thought.

"That can't be good," asserts Sigurd, grinding the end of the toothpick in his mouth with his teeth.

Silas grips the handle of Masamune firmly, ready for whatever may come to harm him and his newfound friends. Meanwhile, Aya notices that Zenith has been shaking in his shoes, his eyes scanning the sky and his knuckles almost white from gripping the Prism Staff too hard. Her eyes widen in fear at the sight of her boyfriend being so nervous. Zenith has always been confident and brave, no matter what the situation or how bad things get. To see him in such a state must mean that the worst is coming and there was nothing anyone can do about it.

_I… I've never felt so nervous… no, not nervous… I'm downright scared…_ thought Zenith as he gazes upward towards the bright blue sky. _This is bad. REALLY bad._

Suddenly, a chilling screech of a roar shattered the silence as a huge burst of wind blows down at the group, almost shocking the numbness into them. Up in the sky came the massive dragon, eclipsing the sun behind it with its body and shadowing wings. It came directly at them as if it was specifically targeting them. Everyone gasps in horror as the dragon's intricate claw comes down and scoops up Silas in one swift move.

"Silas!" Roxy cries out as she began to run towards the airborne creature.

The albino young man struggles to free himself from the monster's grip as the dragon flies higher and higher into the sky. Its claws held onto the lower half of his body, keeping his arms free yet unable to access Masamune. He hears a whining sound and turns to see a red disc-shaped object come flying towards the dragon's head. The weapon bounces off the side of the dragon's bone-armored head, causing no significant damage but was enough to send the monster into a slight daze. Silas looks down to see Lacus standing on top of a tall pile of rubble and catching the flying disc in his arm launcher. With a determined look on his face Lacus aims his launcher at the dragon and let's his Rising Sun shuriken fly, the weapon bouncing off the dragon's face again.

With a mighty roar, the dragon changes course and begin focusing its attention on the impudent fools below, its hold on Silas still strong. Of course, it _was_ strong until a screaming Sigurd came flying at it with Dragoon Lance in tow, piercing the dragon's arm with the weapon's sharp end. Roaring in pain, the dragon releases Silas and proceeds to take a bite out of the human still hanging onto the spear. Unfortunately it fails in its venture as Rising Sun manages to crack the bone-armor on its head.

Grinning confidently, Sigurd rips Dragoon Lance out of the dragon's fleshy arm and jumps off the monster. The grin was short-lived as he soon realizes he was too high to land on the ground safely. As if to answer his prayers, Nova snatches the young man out of the air and sets him down on a big pile of rubble.

"I was wondering when you'd join us," responds Sigurd.

"Can't let you guys have _all_ the fun, can I?" asks the bipedal reptilian, balancing himself on an adjacent mound.

"No worries," scoffs the blonde young man. "This sucker's so big; we can _all_ go for seconds."

Not far from them, they spy Aya as she runs up another pile of junk with a _kodachi_ in each hand at the ready. A red aura surrounded her entire being like a fierce fiery barrier. At the top, she gives a mighty leap towards the dragon and unleashes a Limit Break attack on the creature, slashing at its tough hide from all sides.

Damaged but far from defeated, the now bloody dragon opens its beak-like jaws and focuses its aim towards the falling Aya. Quickly, Zenith thrusts his Prism Staff into the dirt ground below him as a red aura pulsates from his body. He outstretches his arms to his sides and raises one arm to unleash a powerful magic barrier spell on his girlfriend, preventing her from receiving the full extent of the dragon's attack.

Unfortunately, the dragon's mighty attack was still very powerful, even at half damage. Aya cries out as she falls to the ground deeply wounded. Zenith calls out to her and rushes to her side just as the dragon came barreling towards them. Suddenly, a huge beam of energy hits the giant on the side and it turns to see Novaa standing upon another junk pile. Seeing this, the dragon angrily screeches out and takes to the air, disappearing as soon as it had appeared.

"Aya!" yells out Roxy as she runs to her friends as fast as she could, not bothering to wait until the danger fly off.

The Wutai girl was wounded pretty badly from the dragon's deadly breath. As Zenith carefully places Aya in his arms and gently lifts her off the ground, Nanaki and the others arrive on the scene with Cloud and Tifa not far behind them. The younger group initially took no notice of the two as Nanaki gallops up to Zenith.

"Is she allright?" he asks worriedly.

"She's hurt pretty bad," said Zenith, trying as hard as he could to keep himself together. "If only… if only we had a Cure materia…"

"You know we can't use materia anymore, Zenith," spoke up Lacus. "Using materia hurts the Planet."

"I know that!" responds Zenith with frustration in his voice. "But Aya needs help _now_! What are we supposed to do?"

"Calm down," urges Vincent. "Just get her back to the Seventh Heaven and we'll think of something."

"I'm still wondering why that dragon just up and split all of a sudden," notes Sigurd, wiping some sweat off his brow with an arm. "Who the heck summoned that thing anyhow?"

"That dragon… is not one that can be summoned at will," said Nova gravely. He looks towards the others with utmost seriousness in his eyes. "Nor can it be controlled even if it could be summoned by anyone."

"What do you mean by that?" asks Roxy, afraid of what the answer could be.

"Bahamut Maia is not like any other dragon you can summon," clarified Nova. "The only one that could summon it… is the Planet itself…"

* * *

Evening had fallen upon New Midgar, shrouding the Seventh Heaven with a blanket of darkness. Inside, all the lights were lit as the group stood and sat around the bar area. Everyone was on edge after Bahamut Maia's attack, not knowing if they will be targeted again and when.

"So Nova," began Vincent. "How do you know about this Bahamut Maia?"

"In my tribe, Bahamut Maia is a legend that has been passed down through the ages," explained the reptilian with arms crossed and head down. "There is not a single juvenile that knew not of its existence."

He raises his head and looks up grimly.

"Bahamut Maia, as the name suggests, is the mother of all Bahamuts and the sole ancestor of my kind. She is as powerful as the Planet's WEAPONS and is perhaps as old as the Planet itself. To invoke the wrath of Bahamut Maia is to ask for a death sentence."

"You mentioned earlier that the Planet is the only one that can summon it," spoke up Logan, who had been filled in on everything. "Doesn't this mean that the reason Bahamut Maia has been awakened is because there's a serious threat to the Planet?"

"The Planet wouldn't summon any of the WEAPONS if it felt it wasn't in serious danger," said Nanaki. "The same must be for Bahamut Maia."

"The WEAPONS are powerful indeed," said Vincent. "The fact that the Planet summoned three of them over eighty years ago shows how much of a threat Shin-Ra and Sephiroth were."

"And with Omega gone, the Planet has no choice to but to do what it can to survive," adds Cloud. "Hence the summoning of Bahamut Maia."

"I remember when we went to the Northern Crater," spoke up Tifa, recalling that trip many decades ago. "We saw a bunch of cracked eggs and a giant skeleton there. If those eggs were that of the Bahamuts, then that skeleton should be Bahamut Maia, no?"

"Indeed, Bahamut Maia perished many eons ago," answered Nova. "She could not sustain herself on the Planet's limited resources so she died. Although her children managed to live on through summon materia, she was not afforded the same fate. Like I said, Bahamut Maia's power is too great to serve as a summon."

"Then why is it here?" demanded Lacus. "There hasn't been a huge threat to require something as strong as Maia."

"The answer is clear, isn't it?" said Vincent. He looks over Silas who looks back in return.

The albino lets out a sigh. "I figured as much. I _am_ the reincarnation of Sephiroth, after all."

Cloud stiffens at the sound of that name as Tifa looks on worriedly.

"I don't believe it!" exclaims Roxy with fists clenched tightly, her piercing cerulean eyes glaring at Vincent. "Reincarnation or not, Silas is _not_ Sephiroth! He's not a threat to anyone and never will be!" She turns to Silas. "You don't truly want to destroy the Planet, do you?"

"O-of course not," responds Silas, feeling caught off guard by the confrontation. "What reason do I have to do that?"

Roxy turns to the others. "You see?"

"But we can't ignore the fact that the dragon made a beeline for Silas," spoke up Sigurd. "Even if we ourselves believe Silas isn't a threat to us or the Planet, the Planet itself seems to believe otherwise."

"Well maybe Maia mistook Silas for the real Sephiroth," continued Roxy.

"I'm quite sure the Planet knows very well that Sephiroth is long gone," says Logan. He looks over to Cloud. "And you've made sure of that, right?"

"I destroyed him in life and in the Lifestream," answered the blonde swordsman. "You can't get any surer than that."

"But…" Roxy stumbles as she searched through her mind for other possibilities and furrows her brows when she fails to find any. "Silas isn't…"

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs interrupted her thoughts. All eyes were on the wooden structure as Zenith slowly makes his way down.

"Zenith," exclaims Roxy anxiously. "How's Aya?"

"She's… stabilized," he says solemnly. "It's going to be a while before she recovers fully."

"At least she's alive," notes Lacus.

"She'd be a lot better if it wasn't for me," said Silas. He grabs his sunglasses off the counter they were sitting on as well as the Masamune and heads for the entrance to the bar.

"Silas, please…" begs Roxy, taking a few steps towards the man. "Don't go."

"I've been nothing but trouble to everyone I've met," he says sadly. "I'm nothing more than… than a monster…"

"C'mon man, we don't think you're a burden or anything," exclaims Lacus. "The last thing we need is another Logan."

"Hey!" exclaimed the guilty party.

Unfortunately, the only reply he got from the albino was the sound of the saloon doors swinging back and forth.

* * *

Silas sauntered through the dark streets of New Midgar as various thoughts ran through his head. He felt overwhelmed by a sense of frustration and sadness. He thought his past was behind him and that he finally had the friends and life he'd always wanted. But all of that was impossible because of _him_, that shadow of the past that continues to haunt him despite his efforts to forget about him.

He suddenly stumbles over a piece of metal piping and would have fallen face-first onto a piece of broken glass if it weren't for the swiftness of his hands. A little surprised by the accident Silas laid there, breathing on the piece of glass and staring at his reflection, ignoring the blood that was slowly leaking out of his cut palms.

Then, for a brief moment, he caught a glimpse of someone else's face where his reflection should be. His crimson eyes were glued onto the glowing aqua green eyes of a mysterious, silver-haired man that was now staring up back at him.

Silas closes his eyes and shakes his head. Slowly and steadily he got up to his feet, leaving the Masamune where it laid on the ground. When he opened his eyes again, he was now in complete darkness. He could feel the presence of someone taller standing behind him, but he didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"You're the reason I can't have a normal life," Silas says outloud.

Sephiroth made no move to respond or turn around to face his reincarnation.

"Then again," continued Silas as he brings his bloodied pale hands up to look at them. "I wasn't even born normal to begin with."

Silence fell between them.

"Is this what you really want?" inquired Sephiroth forebodingly, knowing full well what is going through Silas' mind.

"I can't escape you," said Silas dejectedly. "And I'm not strong enough to fight. The only way I can be of use to anyone is to become you."

The silver-haired ex-SOLDIER lowers his head. "You do realize there may be no way of turning back, do you?"

"I'm not worthy nor experienced enough to wield Masamune," replies Silas. He lowers his head. "Nor can I protect anyone with it."

"Do you really trust me to leave your life as well as the lives of the others in my hands?" wonders Sephiroth. "I did almost destroy the Planet, after all."

Silas chuckles. "You're not that person anymore."

"I suppose I've learned my lesson, so to speak," articulated Sephiroth, raising his head up. "It will be done then."

With that, Sephiroth fades away and the darkness slowly began to swallow up Silas. It was so dark, he couldn't tell if his eyes were opened or not, but he could feel his body changing. Slowly and steadily, the feeling crept up from his feet to his hips, then his arms and shoulders. As he felt his head changing, he lets out one last thought.

"Please forgive me, Roxy."

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**A/N:** And if you're wondering what Silas did, tune in for the next chapter! Who knows, we might see Zack and Aerith again.

EDIT: _Paradox_ is, ironically, in a paradox of its own right now. Because I haven't worked on it for so long and I've introduced so many new characters, it's gotten to the point where it's getting ridiculously alternate-universe where FFVII characters are pretty much cameos. Which contradicts my original intention to have the main focus on the FFVII characters. :( As such, I've been developing an alternative story that recycles much of my original plot for _Paradox_ into a brand new fanfiction. What does that mean for the story? Well, I've finally decided to put an end to _Paradox_ in favor of replacing it with my more improved storyline. **So, yes, _Paradox_ has been discontinued.** As for the new FFVII story, I have yet to figure in a timeline when I will publish and work on it. It will definitely start after _SOLDIER's Song_ is completed, that's for sure.


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